A Beautiful Walking Disaster
by Urban Rose
Summary: Bella Swan is the ultimate good girl. College gives Bella the chance to escape the dark past she is running from. However when she arrives with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Washington University's Walking One Night Stand, Jacob Black. He is exactly what Bella wants—and needs—to avoid. Bella/Jacob Beautiful Disaster plot Twilight characters
1. Summaries

**Author**: Urban Rose

**Pairing**: Jacob/Bella

**Rating**: M

**Summery**:

**A Beautiful Walking Disaster**

Bella Swan is trying to be the ultimate good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she thinks she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe.

Wishing to start afresh, college gives Bella the chance to escape the dark past she is running from. Picking the one place, she knows no one will think to look for her she heads to the rainy,  
deery city of Seattle. However when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Washington University's Walking One Night Stand.

Jacob Black is devilishly handsome, ripped and covered in tattoos, he is exactly what Bella wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Bella's resistance to his appeal,  
Jacob tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain celibate for a month. If Bella loses, she must live in his apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Jacob has no idea that he has met his match.

I am super psyched about this story.

This story is going to closely follow the two novels, in the beautiful saga, at least initially.

I am going to do them as one story so I will alternate between the two. So you will get Bella's version of events and then in the next Jake's; instead of doing two separate stories.

Even better than that is if you guys like it… there are future stories to follow from Bella and Jake as well as the other pack members… because I just know you are going to LOVE Jake and his brothers in this story!

I absolutely freaking LOVE Jake; especially a bad boy Jacob but I also love, love, LOVE Travis Maddox so the combination of the two makes me just a big ball of mush inside!

**Beta: the amazing Patricia- who is gonna go make sure my Jake is a true bad ass bad boy ;) **

**The amazing and gorgeous banners and the button for the story and POV's are going to be made by the extremely beautiful and talented Patricia aka Pece87**

**In Progress**

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**


	2. Character index

**A Beautiful Walking Disaster- **

**AN/ CHARACTER INDEX / Q&A /SPOILERS/**

Hello!

I am so happy so many of you have joined this group and are willing to give something I write the time of day- so a massive thank you!

Obviously once I have a laptop and back on my feet physically (emotionally/mentally) I will get back to my other stories in the mean time I'm going to try and kick this story's ass while Patricia kicks mine to get it done! We are hoping to get each new chapter to you as soon as they are done but at the moment we are hoping to do it once a week/ or both B's chapter and J's at the same time but we will have to just see how it goes!

I should include a warning some of the characters maybe out of character because they are filling new roles- and some of them I love normally but we had to try and stay true to the Beautiful plot so it worked- so try not to hate me too much if suddenly someone turns into a right "beep".

Many Thanks for always being such lovely readers and reviewers!

_Sam aka Urban_ Rose xxx

**Individual summaries:**

**_Bella's story: A Beautiful Disaster_**

Bella Swan is trying to be the ultimate good girl. She doesn't smoke, drink or even swear. Bella thinks college will be her saviour from her past until she meets UDub's dangerous walking one night stand- Jacob Black. He is everything she is trying to escape from, he may be handsome but he is also far too risky. She needs to avoid him at all costs. She isn't looking for romance and if she is- it will be with an intelligent, well spoken, high flyer who is going to go places.

Jacob Black is the ultimate bad boy; devilishly handsome, lean with an impressive muscular body that has girls dropping their panties for him with a single look and guys quaking in their boots- and what's more he knows it which only adds to his cocky attitude. He is covered in tattoos, rides a Harley, smokes and swears like a soldier, drinks like a sailor and has slept with nearly every girl at UDub- not to mention he is the undefeated champion of 'the Circle'- it's secret fight club…

**_Jake's story: A Walking Disaster_**

Can you love someone too much?

Jacob Black learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

The life of Jacob is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Bella Swan walks into his life and brings him to his knees.

**Characters;-**

**Jacob-**

Sophomore at UDub – Criminal Justice Major, 19, birthday is April 1st.

6' 4", he is a Native American Quileute who was brought up on the La Push Reservation, with black short spiky hair, dimple in his left cheek. He has warm brown eyes and his arms and chest are covered in tattoos. He drives a Harley Hot Rod, and smokes and drinks even though he isn't 21. He is also part of the Sigma Tau Fraternity, all of his brothers, father and uncle were all also members.

Jacob is cool, aggressive, and passionate, but he is magnetic, volatile and controlling person, who is used to getting what he wants and has never lost a fight. He is fiercely protective and passionate about the people and things he loves. He is also extremely intelligent.

**Bella **

Freshman at UDub- doesn't have a major yet, is thinking about accountancy. She is 18, turns 19 around the end of October.

5'4" long mahogany hair with large almond shaped chocolate brown eyes. She is a genius at Maths; proof of this is she is only a freshman yet in Calculus III. She has trust issues, tends to over think everything and is quite flighty. She has a set idea for her life plans, and intends to make sure nothing stops her from achieving them.

Bella is the only child to Charlie and Renee Swan. Charlie is a professional poker player and Renee left when Bella was 13 nearly 14, leaving her in Charlie's care.

**Embry **

Freshman at UDub.

6' 2 Native American Quileute who was brought up on the La Push Reservation; Embry is the only child of Billy's brother, Joshua and his wife, Tiffany. (I know in Twilight Billy only had sisters... but he needed a brother here.)

Embry is Jake's best friend, cousin and roommate. He is only a few months younger than Jacob, but he is in the year below Jake in school. Embry is a freshman, same as Bella, Leah, Seth, and Angela. He has lost a few girlfriends and potential love interests due to Jacob sleeping with their friends, which makes him wary of Jacob around Leah. He has short black hair, which tends to fall into in his eyes a lot. He has dark brown almost black eyes, drives a charger.

**Leah **

Leah is the only child of Harry and Sue Clearwater. Best friends with Bella since their junior year in high school. She's the only person who's fully aware of Bella's past. Leah and her parents have been a tremendous help and good support network for Bella. Leah is the only one that will call Bella out on her "bullshit". Leah is a true spitfire and fiercely protective of her best friend, Bella, who she considers her sister. She is straight talking, and says what she thinks, and will happily stand up for herself and Bella.

**Edward Cullen **

Tall, slightly lanky, Sig Tau brother of Jake. Has big green eyes, dresses smart, clean shaven, with wavy brown almost bronze hair, comes from a rich family, whose family half own an exclusive Italian restaurant. His father is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, and his mother is a socialite. Edward is very serious straight laced preppy type. Intends to go to Havard in a year to study medicine to become a doctor.

**Other Characters:**

**Seth**

Leah and Bella's gay best friend; they met him on the first day of college along with Embry.

**Angela**

Bella's roommate at college as she thought sharing with Leah wouldn't help her spread her wings. She appears grumpy and sarcastic but actually cares for Bella as a friend more then she shows. Leah doesn't like her, like Leah she says exactly what she thinks.

**Billy Black**

Jake's father, married to Sarah Black until she passed away. Suffered with her death and struggling to raise a family of boys single handed and instead turned to drink. He had a severe alcohol problem and bad temper after her death. Has never met anyone else since.

Has five sons; Sam, the twins, Jared and Quil, Paul and Jake.

**Sarah** died from Cancer when all the boys were very young. Jake was only three. Sam would have been about ten – or that is how old I have made him, as none of their ages are mentioned, bar Jake's. Sam – ten. Jared and Quil – eight. Paul –five. Jake- three

**Sam**

Jake's oldest brother- their "Guardian"; takes his role and promise to his dead mother to look after his father and siblings seriously. He helped raise the boys while their father was often at work or drunk, which made him grow up far too quickly but it has also made him very protective, intense, serious and at times a little overbearing. He doesn't trust anyone easily and doesn't like anyone new coming into their family who could potentially rock their carefully balanced unit. Lives and works in California, as an advertising exec.

**Jared and Quil**

The twins- the family's comedians and jokers.

**Paul**

Jake is closest to Paul, out of all of his siblings, Jake lets him get away with things that he would never allow anyone else to. He is the second best fighter in the family, after Jake- according to Jake! But the only who can still land a punch on Jacob.  
Eighteen months before ABWD Paul was the king of UDub, dating co-eds before he had even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but something happens that makes him leave and return home to live with his widower father while working full-time at a local tattoo parlor. Paul drives a dark red dodge intrepid which he loves and has his sights set on Rachel.

**Lauren**

One of Jacob's "flyers"- A very small group of regular fuck buddies.

**Rachel**

A barmaid at the local bar/club "Red Marclarens", also known as "the red". Has a boyfriend in California.

**Emmett**

Sophomore with Jake, he is also one Jake and Embry's Sigma Tau frat brothers, he is also one of the football team players. One of the few people besides his brothers and Embry Jake likes.

**Garratt**

Garratt created and runs "the Circle" the secret underground fight club Jake is the undefeated champion of.

**Tyler "The Crow" Crowley**

Star Varsity Wrestler at UDub. 6' He was a massive guy, in height and width, with muddy brown hair in a buzz cut.

**Esme Evenson**

Sarah's Nurse

**Professor Randall -**Jake's Humanities lecturer.

**Professor Cullen**- Jacob and Bella's History lecturer.

**Vultures**: Girls that are desperate to drop their panties for Jacob…. Or already have.

So far: Jessica, Jane, Heidi, Chelsea.

**_Questions and Answers:_**

The order of the boys and their ages when they lost their mother goes;

Sam ten – or that is how old I have made him, as none of their ages are mentioned, bar Jake's, The Jared and Quil – eight. Paul –five. Jake- three.

Bella is the first woman Jacob has ever wanted to actually want him, and he has a jealous side which does include resorting to violence when other men try to get close to Bella. He is cocky, although changes are made when he falls for Bella. Jacob is very as intelligent, and he sails through his classes easily getting A's. Jacob's family are massive poker fans and enjoy playing together once a month, or whenever Sam can fly in. Jacob's grandfather was a professional player but Jacob himself isn't very good. However he makes up for it with fighting abilities. He's also an ace in pool. Bella manages to calm him just as much as she drives him crazy. Jacob's father was a drunk who was violent and with four older brothers who were all aggressive he had to learn how to fight to defend himself. Despite the boys being "broken" as a family unit they always pulled together to make an impressive and secure fort to stop anyone trying to hurt any of them. Although he sees them as broken and dysfunctional Jacob loves his family fiercely and they all accept Abby readily calling her their sister and daughter.

Bella's history will come out as the story progresses. However more of her background: Due to her past and mainly due to her father, she has major trust issues, especially towards men like Jacob. Despite her good girl image, and her innocent persona Bella has experienced more than most her age. She can hold her liquor, and on her nineteenth birthday party, does shots for money- much to everyone's surprise and concern besides Leah's. Jacob is intrigued by Bella's resistance to his appeal, and seeks her out for this reason. He is often left confused by her, because he sees her as mysterious because he can never guess what she is thinking mainly due to the fact she is so different from him. Bella is overly cautious and doesn't jump into things without thoroughly thinking it through. She is a virgin, who thinks she should be pursuing and dating someone like Edward Cullen and staying away from men Like Jacob. Bella also sees herself as not being good enough for Jacob, likewise Jacob sees himself as not good enough for her.

**Still to make an appearance:**

**Alice- **freshmanPixie short chestnut brown hair, her brother is **Emmett**, attractive but hasn't and doesn't sleep with Jacob. Helps Jake get into the halls and later studies with Bella, later on down the line, and becomes one of her close friends.

**Kim, Emily** and maybe (a much older) **Claire**… are being saved for future stories for each of the brothers.


	3. Prologue - A Beautiful Disaster Bella's

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**"You're Not Sorry"**

All this time I was wasting,  
Hoping you would come around  
I've been giving out chances every time  
And all you do is let me down  
And it's taken me this long  
but I figured you out  
And you're thinking we'll be fine again,  
But not this time around

You don't have to call anymore  
I won't pick up the phone  
This is the last straw  
Don't wanna hurt anymore  
And you can tell me that you're sorry  
But I don't believe you  
Like I did before  
You're not sorry

Looking so innocent,  
I might believe you if I didn't know  
I loved you all my life  
but you left me waiting in the cold  
you got your share of secrets  
And I'm tired of being last to know  
And now you're asking me to listen  
Cause it's worked each time before

You had me crying for you every night  
And it never would've changed  
You used to shine so bright  
But I watched all of it fade

So you don't have to call anymore  
I won't pick up the phone  
This is the last straw  
There's nothing left to beg for  
And you can tell me that you're sorry  
But I don't believe you  
Like I did before  
You're not sorry,

You will never change…

You're not Sorry By Taylor Swift (with a few alternations!)

**A Beautiful Disaster: Bella's story**

**_Prologue_**

**_'Beautiful Disaster'_****_ -_** can sometimes be used to describe a woman who is beautiful on the outside but who is crumbling on the inside as she struggles with inner turmoil.

**Prologue**

I looked around what had been my childhood bedroom. I knew after I left today I would never be back. I looked down at the sole box sitting on my bed, and the suitcase resting at my feet. Everything that had meant something was packed in the cardboard box in front of me. Whatever was left could rot with the rest of the house. I wasn't taking much with me, clothes and a few pictures and mementos from happier times. The teddy Dad had won for me at a funfair when I was three, which for years, I couldn't sleep without. My favorite books, the fairy lights from above my bed, that my parents had hung when I started having nightmares at five. A few CDs. My favorite comforter. And that was it. That summed up my whole existence in this house. All that I wanted to keep, the only things from my past I was willing to take into my new life with me.

This room had barely changed since I was eleven. I could still remember the day I helped pick out the paint and all the new bedding for my 'grown up girl's' room...

Who would have known that in two years my life would be turned upside down beyond recognition.

I mean I knew my life had never been brilliant by anyones terms but by mine it had been. I was happy at least I thought I was.

Loud footsteps taking the stairs two at a time brought me back to the present.

"Bella come on! We need to make a move if you don't want to chance seeing him and you really don't wanna see him. Do you?" I shook my head at my best friend quickly. She knew just how much I didn't want to see him. Especially not today.

"Is this it? Bella? Bella... Is this all you want to take..." She pauses reluctant to call it home, the same as I am, "With you?" She finishes.

"Yeah that's it Leah. I don't need anything else. I've got everything I need. Fresh start remember?" I try not to look over at her, because I'm scared that the carefully built wall around me will crumble and I need it up. It has to stay up if I am to do this. I can't let him screw up my life anymore.

Leah nods at me, picks the suitcase up and swings an arm around me and gives me a squeeze before kissing my hair.

"See you at the car in two okay?"

I nod, pick up the box in front of me, and glance around the room one last time before I follow her, only stopping by the front door to pull the door key out of my jeans pocket and leave it on the cupboard next to the front door where I know he will see it eventually, whenever he finally decides to comes home.

I give one final look around "home" and close the door behind me.

I walk out to the car where Leah is stood leaning against the side of it with Harry and Sue.

They all gaze at me with massive smiles in their faces.

"Right girls! I guess this is where we give you a long lecture on having no fun and staying safe at college huh?" Leah's dad chuckles as both me and Leah frown and Sue hits his shoulder playfully.

"Okay, okay, look, you girls know what I should say- you're both bright girls so I'll save that talk- but if you need us, or anything- and that goes for the both of you" he says looking purposefully at me "you call us night or day. Okay?" We both nod, Sue looks like she is going to cry any minute as Harry takes the box off me and loads it in the back of Leah's car.

"Right lets get you two on the road okay?" Suddenly everyone is keen to get us away from here. None of us know when he will be back, and no one wants a scene. Sue hugs Leah as I hug Harry and thank him for all he's done for me, then I switch and do the same with Sue. The two of them then shoo us into the car, and wave us off.

Just as the car turns at the end of the street and they disappear from view, Leah turns to me with the biggest smile on her face, which I know mirrors mine.

"Adventure time bitch!" She shouts as she flicks the radio on and I laugh at her enthusiasm. I knew I could have done this without her, hell I had to do it, I had no choice but I wasn't sure I would have wanted to do it without her. Leah had changed my whole life the day she stepped into it, two years ago. I hadn't found a friend, I'd found a sister, the proof of that was her coming with me thousands of miles away to go to college so I wasn't on my own.


	4. Prologue - A Walking Disaster Jake

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

_**Run**_

I'll sing it one last time for you

Then I really have to go

You've all been the only thing that's right

In all I've done

And I can barely look at you all

But every single time I do

I know you'll make it anywhere

even without me here

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, my dears

Louder, louder

And you'll run for your lives

I can hardly speak, I understand

Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes

Makes it so hard not to cry

And as we say our long goodbyes

I nearly do

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Slower, slower

We don't have time for that

All I want is to find an easier way

To get me of your little heads

Have heart, my dear

You're bound to be afraid

Even if it's just for a few days

Making up for all this mess

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you, dear

Run by Snow Patrol (with a few alterations).

**A Walking Disaster: Jake's story**

Prologue

Even with the sweat glistening on her skin and the worn out skips in her breathing, she didn't look sick. Sure her skin didn't have the same bronzed glistening glow I was used to, and her eyes weren't as bright or sparkling, but she was still beautiful. The most beautiful woman I would ever see.

Her hand flopped off the bed, and her finger twitched slightly. My eyes trailed from her brittle, broken, yellowing nails, up along her thin arm, to her now bony shoulder, finally settling on her warm honey brown eyes. She was looking down at me, her eyelids two slits, just enough to let me know she knew I was there. That's what I loved about her. When she looked at me, she really saw me. She didn't look past me to all the other dozens of things she needed to do that day, or tune out my chatter or my never ending tales and stories. She listened, and it made her really happy.

Everyone else seemed to nod without listening; but not her. Never her.

"Jacob," she said her voice raspy. She cleared her throat, and the corners of her mouth turned up. "Come here, baby. My baby boy, It's okay. C'mere."

Dad put a few fingers around the base of my neck and pushed me forward while still listening to the lady next to him. Sam said she was a nurse. Dad called her Esme. She came to the house for the first time a few days ago. Her words were soft, and her eyes were sorta nice, but I didn't like her. I couldn't explain it, I didn't know why but her being here was scary. I knew she must have been here to help, but it wasn't a good thing, even though Dad was okay with her being here.

Dad's push had shoved me forward several steps, close enough now so that mommy could touch me. She stretched her long, elegant fingers that were now bony and hard, out to brush my arm. "It's okay, Jacob," she whispered. "mommy wants to tell you something."

I stared up at her, scared, I could feel it in my bones something bad was gonna happen. I tried to think what I could have done that was really bad, but I couldn't think of anything. So I stuck my finger in my mouth, not my thumb because I wasn't a baby, just one finger, pushing it around my mouth with my tongue. While my other hand fidgeted with my laundry tag on my t-shirt nervously. mommy used to laugh when I did that, she always said she knew I was nervous or shy when I played with it. Today she didn't laugh. I nodded at her, which made her small smile grow a little bit bigger, so I made sure to make big movements with my head as I stepped toward her face.

She used what was left of her strength to move closer to me, she made a little gasp as she did, which made Esme and dad step closer, she shook her head at them and they stepped back again. She took a breath. "What I'm going to ask you will be very hard, son. But I know you can do it, because you're a big boy now, my big boy."

I gave a big nod again, and mirrored her smile, even though inside I didn't feel like smiling. Smiling when she looked so tired and uncomfortable didn't feel right, but being brave made her happy. So I would be brave. Brave I could do.

"Jake, I need you to listen to what I'm going to say, and even more important, I need you to remember it. This will be very hard. I've been trying to remember things from when I was three, and I..." She trailed off, the pain too much for a moment or two.

"Pain getting unmanageable, Sarah?" Esme asked, pushing a needle into Mom's IV. After a few moments more, mommy seemed to relax again and she took another breath, and tried to speak again. "Can you do that for mommy? Can you remember what I'm about to say?" I nodded again, nodding made her happy. She raised a hand to my cheek, she didn't feel very warm, and she could only keep her hand there for a few seconds before it got shaky and fell back on to the bed again.

"First, it's okay to be sad. It's okay to feel things. Remember that, but I don't want you being sad over me Jake. Next, thing I want you to do for me Jakey is to be a kid for as long as you can. Play games, Jacob. Be silly" her eyes glossed over and a little water pooled at the side balancing on her lashes before it rolled down her cheek —"I want you and your brothers to take care of each other, and your father. Even when you grow up and move away, promise me you will always come back home Jacob. It's important to come home. Okay?"I bobbed my head up and down, again desperate to please her.

"Lastly Jay, one day you're going to fall in love, son. Promise me you won't settle for just anyone. Choose the one girl that doesn't come easy, the one you have to fight for, and then never stop fighting for her, for what you love and never"—she took a deep breath—"never stop fighting for what you want. And never"—her eyebrows pulled in like she did when she was concentrating hard on a question I had asked her—"forget that mommy loves you. Even when you can't see me." Another tear fell down her cheek. "I will always, always love you."

She took a sharp breath, which made her start to cough.

"Okay," Esme said, sticking a funny- looking round thing in her ears, it had a long tube attached with a disc thingy on the end. She held this bit to mommy's chest. "It's time to rest now Sarah."

"No," mommy whispered, "no time", she coughed again.

Esme looked at my dad. "We're getting close, Mr. Black. You should probably bring the rest of the boys in, it's time to say goodbye."

Dad's lips pressed into a hard line, like when he was very mad at us or when the mariners lost, but when he looked up he didn't look mad he looked like he was in pain, he shook his head violently at her. "I can't. I'm not ready," he choked out. "You'll never be ready to lose your wife, Billy. But you don't want to let her go without the boys saying their goodbyes. You have to allow them the chance to say goodbye to her.", Esme said.

Dad looked up at the ceiling like he was looking for an answer, before he turned away from us and wiped his face on his sleeve, cleared his throat loudly, making me jump, and then gave Esme a nod before he stormed out of the room, like he was mad.

I watched mommy, watched her try to breathe, and then I looked over at Esme who was checking the numbers on the box beside her. I touched mommy's wrist gently, glancing up at Esme to see if she saw me, she was watching me, her eyes seemed to look sad, I thought I was in trouble and pulled my hand away, but she leaned over and patted my hand and placed it back on mommy's, her face looked like she knew something I didn't and I knew it was bad because it made my stomach feel sick.

"You know, Jacob," Esme said, leaning down so she could look me in the eyes, "the medicine I've got to give your mommy will make her sleep, but even though she's sleeping, she can still hear you. You can still tell mommy anything you want- tell her you love her and you'll miss her, you can tell her goodbye sweetie. She'll hear you."

I looked at mommy but I shook my head. "I don't want to miss her, I don't want to say goodbye- that means you have to go away, I don't want to go away and leave mommy when she is sick, she needs me."

Esme put her soft, warm hand on my shoulder, just like mommy used to when I was crying or upset. "Your mommy wants to be here with you Jacob, she wants that more than anything. But right now the great spirits need her. They want her with them right now."

I frowned. "I need her more than they do, she is my mommy, I want her too."

Esme smiled at me but she didn't look happy, she looked sad, as she leaned down and kissed the top of my long hair.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and opened it. Daddy stood in the doorway with my brothers crowded around him in the hallway, all peering around him and Esme led me by the hand to join them.

Paul's eyes didn't leave mommy's bed, and Quil and Jared looked all around the room but at mommy. It made me feel better that they all looked as scared as I felt. Sam stood next to me, but a little in front of me, almost like the times he had protected me when we were playing in the front yard, and the neighbours' boys tried to pick a fight with Quil. "She doesn't look good," Sam said quietly, looking up at dad.

Dad cleared his throat loudly. "Mom's been real sick for a long time, boys, and it's time for her . . . it's time she . . ." He trailed off unable to finish what he was trying to say. I had a horrible feeling he was going to tell us the great spirits wanted her too and it was time she had to go, so she could be with them.

Esme looked at dad and gave him a small, sympathetic smile, before she placed a hand on his arm, she patted it once and then knelt down to look at all us boys. "Your mom hasn't been eating or drinking boys. She has been very sick and her body is letting go." She looked at each of us in turn, slowly nodding at us. "I know it's very hard, but now is a good time for you to tell your mommy that you love her, and you're going to miss her, but it's okay for her to let go. She needs to know that it's okay."

My brothers nodded their heads as if they understood. Every one of them nodded but me.

mommy always told us not to tell lies- it was very bad; especially not to her. She said as long as we told her the truth we wouldn't get into trouble. Now this strange lady was telling me I had to tell mommy it was okay for her to leave, but it wasn't okay. I didn't want her to leave. I didn't care if the great spirits wanted her or even if they needed her. She was my mommy. He could take an old mommy, someone else's mommy; one that didn't have little boys to take care of, one that no one needed anymore. I needed my mommy. I tried to remember everything she had said to me. I tried to glue it to the inside of my head: Play. Visit Dad. Fight for what I love. That last one confused me because I loved mommy, I loved her more than anything even my favorite teddy, loved her more than anyone else, more than I would ever love anyone else ever again but I didn't know how to fight for her.

Esme looked at mommy and then leaned over to whisper something into my dad's ear. His face crumpled but it went back to the stoic expression he had been wearing a lot lately, so quickly I thought I had imagined the change. He shook his head, and then nodded to me and my brothers. "Okay boys. Let's go say goodbye to ya mom, and then you need to get your brothers in bed, Sam, okay? They don't need to be here for the... Rest."

"Yes, sir," Sam spoke loudly and clearly, I knew he was faking it though and he was faking the brave look he had plastered on his face. I'd seen that look before, once when daddy had been really mad and spanked him for breaking mommy's favorite vase- when it hadn't been him at all. It had been Quil and Jared when they had been fighting over what to watch on the television. Sam's eyes looked sad, just like how I thought mine must look. I wanted to hold his hand, but I knew he wouldn't want that. Not in front of everyone else. Sam was the biggest and the bravest. He talked to mommy for a while, and then Quil and Jared whispered things in each of her ears. Paul cried and hugged her for a really long time, until Esme patted him on his back. Every one of them told mommy it was okay for her to leave us. Everyone but me. I didn't. I couldn't. I wouldn't lie to her. mommy didn't say anything back this time.

Sam took my hand, and led me out of her new bedroom downstairs, the one she had been moved into when she got too poorly to climb the stairs. I walked backwards, my eyes not leaving her until we were in the hallway. I thought if I tried to pretend she was just going to sleep, it would be okay but my head went funny and everything went blurry.

Sam picked me up and carried me up the stairs. He gripped me tighter and climbed faster as I heard Dad's cries echo through the walls.

Sam stood me on the bath mat as he turned the taps on. "What did she say to you?" He asked. I didn't answer. I couldn't. I heard him ask again and him call my name. I had remembered what she had told me- just like she told me to, but my eyes wouldn't work, no tears would fall and my mouth wouldn't work either.

Sam pulled my dirt covered t-shirt over my head, and my shorts and my batman underwear down to the floor.

"Time to get in the bath, bubba," He cooed as he lifted me into the bath tub and sat me down in the warm water, soaking the sponge, before squeezing it over my head. I didn't blink or move. I didn't do anything not even try to get the water off of my face, even though I hated it.

"Yesterday, mom told me to take care of you and Paul and the twins, and to take care of Dad." Sam laid his hands on the edge of the bath before resting his chin on them, looking directly at me. "So that's what I'm gonna do, Jake, okay? I'm going to take care of you. So don't you worry, I'm here. We're going to miss mom but we can miss her together, but don't be scared, okay? I'm here. I'm going to make sure everything's okay. I promise."

I wanted to nod, or hug him, or to say something but nothing worked.

All I could think was I should be downstairs fighting for her, for my mommy, fighting to keep her but instead I was upstairs, in a bath full of water like a statue. She told me to fight for what I loved and I had already let her down.

That was when I promised her, inside my head that I would do everything she wanted me to do, just as soon as I could get my body to work again. When the sadness went away like she said, I vowed I would always play, and I would always fight. Hard.


	5. Chapter 1 ABD- Bella's Story

******Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**A Beautiful Disaster: ****_Bella's story_**

Chapter One

_Hazard Warning_

Everything in the room screamed that I didn't belong. The walls which were covered in mildew and mold and looked like they were ready to crumble were crammed with rowdy patrons all of whom were shoulder to shoulder. The air was thick with a concoction of alcohol, sweat, blood and smoke. Voices blurred and blended together as they yelled numbers and names back and forth, while arms were being waved around manically, exchanging money and gesturing to communicate over the noise. I squeezed through the crowd, following closely behind my best friend.

"Keep your cash in your wallet, Bella!" Leah called to me, in a sarcastic tone, as she turned to flash me a wide smile which gleamed even in the dim light of the basement.

"Stay close! It'll get worse once it starts!" Embry yelled over the noise. Leah grabbed his hand, before she grabbed one of mine as Embry led us through the sea of overly excited and extremely drunk people. The sharp bleating of a megaphone cut through the smoky air. The noise startled me, making me jump, as I searched for the source of the blast. A tall man with a mass of long sandy blonde hair, kept in place by a leather thong stood on a wooden chair, holding a wad of cash in one hand, and the megaphone in his other. He pulled the megaphone back to his mouth.

"Welcome to the blood bath! If you are looking for history 1-0-1...you are in the wrong fucking place, my friend! If you seek The Circle, this is Mecca! My name is Garrett, I make the rules and I call the fight. Betting ends once the fighters are on the floor. No touching the fighters, no assistance, no bet switching, and no obtrusion into the ring. Break the rules, you will get the shit beat out of you and thrown out on your ass without your money! That includes the Ladies! So don't use your hoes to do your dirty work, boys!"

Embry shook his head in disgust. "Jeeze, Garr!" He shouted over the noise, he clearly didn't approve of something his friend had said but whether it was his friend's choice of language or phrase, I wasn't sure. My heart thumped in my chest, and despite the noise I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. I was beginning to regret my outfit for the evening, with my new baby pink cashmere cardigan and pearl earrings, I felt like a Stepford wife in the midst of the Normandy beaches. I had promised Leah that I could handle whatever happened tonight only an hour ago but now I was in the middle of the fray, and I was beginning to fight the urge to grab her arm with both my hands and run like a bat out of hell out of here- wherever here was. As it was I was struggling to not squeeze the hell out of her hand, but I knew if I did that, it would alert her to the panic I was feeling. I knew she would never put me in any danger, but being in this small dirty basement with well over fifty drunken college boys all of whom were intent on seeing bloodshed and winning money tonight, didn't make me exactly confident on our chances to leave unharmed.

Leah had met Embry at freshman orientation back in August and had been dating ever since, so she had come to quite a few of these secret fights, which were held in different basements around the University's grounds. Every fight was held in a different location, and kept secret until an hour before the fight. Because I ran in much tamer circles, and preferred to keep to myself, I had been surprised to learn of the underground fighting circle at UDub; me being here tonight was more of an accident then a fluke. It had only come about because I had been out for dinner with Leah and Embry. When Embry had gotten a call and suddenly turned into a teenage girl suddenly glued to his phone. That was when Leah had told him she was bringing me, and made me promise I could handle it. As it turned out Embry had known about UDub's secret underworld, before he had even enrolled; Jacob, Embry's cousin and roommate, had entered his first fight seven months ago while he was still a freshman. He had quickly gained the title of the most lethal competitor Garrett had seen in the three years since he had created 'The Circle'. Jacob had finished his freshman year with an undefeated track record, and even now his record was still unblemished with a single loss. These fights also meant the two boys could easily pay their rent, fees and bills with their winnings.

Garrett brought the megaphone back to his lips again, and the yelling and movement reached a frenetic level. "Tonight we have a new challenger! UDub's star wrestler, Tyler 'The Crow' Crowley!" Cheering and some booing ensued, as the crowd parted when Tyler entered the room from a doorway across the room from where we stood. A circular space cleared, and the crowd cheered, whistled, booed and taunted the man as he stalked his way through the crowd, seemingly unaware of the hands reaching out to slap his shoulders and back. He was a massive guy, in height and width, with muddy brown hair in a buzz cut. He bounced up and down, and rocked his neck from side to side, as he twisted his arms in front of him before flexing them above his head; he wore a stern expression on his face but his eyes stayed alert and focused on the doorway across the room from him. The noise in the room had become a dull roar, which was already hurting my ears, suddenly shot up to another level when music suddenly began blasted through large speakers situated on the other side of the room, making my hands shoot up to cover my ears as Garrett shouted into the plastic speaker in his hand, "Our next fighter doesn't need an introduction, he does however come with a warning!"

Some of the crowd gave a chuckle, as Garrett gave a dramatic pause, before continuing, "but since he literally scares the fuck out of me, I'm gonna give him one, anyway! It is time to quake in your boots, boys, and drop your panties, ladies! Because guys and dolls I give you the one and only Jacob 'The Hazard' Black!"

It had gotten so loud inside the dingy room I wrongly presumed it couldn't get any louder but I was quickly proved wrong as the volume exploded as Jacob appeared in a doorway to the side of us. He appeared shirtless; with just a pair of jeans hung loosely over his hips, secured with a heavy looking belt and metal buckle. He seemed incredibly relaxed and calm, a smile playing carelessly on his lips as he too strolled through the parted crowd and into the center of the circle. He looked as if he were just casually walking across to get a beer from a bar instead of someone who was about to fight a pro wrestler in a room filled with drunken fools eager to see some bloodshed.

His huge muscles rippled under his tattooed skin as he stretched his arms out and bumped his fists against Crowley's knuckles in greeting. Jacob leaned over and whispered something into his opponent's ear, smiling as he spoke. Surprise flashed across the wrestler's face as he struggled to keep his steely expression. Tyler stepped up to his full height, trying to intimidate Jacob, who smiled broadly as he rolled his shoulders backwards before he too straightened up, making himself a few inches taller than the impressive wrestler, who must have been a good six foot at least, himself. Both men were now looking directly into each other's eyes, as they stepped forward, so they were now toe to toe. Crowley's expression looked almost barbaric; Jacob however looked faintly amused- almost as if he was waiting for Crowley to tell him the punch line to a joke.

The men took a few steps back, Garrett looked at them both, neither looked at him but both gave a nod, before Garrett sounded the horn. Crowley immediately took up a defensive stance, as Jake swung a fast punch straight at Crowley's jaw. The crowd all stepped closer as the first punch was delivered, I was shoved forward and as I lost my line of sight, I stepped onto the balls of my feet, and tried leaning from side to side to get a better view, unfortunately it seemed everyone else had the same idea. I inched up on to my tiptoes to try and get a better view. Being only five foot five inches in height had always been a pain however it normally gave me the advantage of being able to blend into crowds when I wanted too. Tonight however it was extremely annoying, even on tiptoes I couldn't see anything. As if being pulled forward I slid through the frenzied crowd. I felt elbows and shoulders being rammed and jabbed into me as I was bounced back and forth like a pinball through the crowd. I could just make out the tops of Tyler and Jacob's heads, so I continued to push my way forward. I finally reached the front only to see Tyler attempt to grab hold of Jacob with his huge thick arms in what I could only imagine was a wrestling maneuver, which would enable him to throw Jacob to the ground. However as Crowley leaned forward, Jacob swung his fist upwards hitting Crowley in the underneath of his jaw, the sheer power of it sent his head flying upwards and he staggered backwards. Before he could register the blow, Jacob showered him with fast and hard punches; his fists making contact over and over with Tyler's bloodied face. Suddenly five strong fingers dug into my arm before jerking me backwards, as I collided with a hard chest. "What the hell are you doing Bella?" Embry hissed angrily into my ear.

"I couldn't see anything from back there! Not all of us are six foot giants" I shouted to him. Annoyed to be missing the fight, I pulled my arm free and turned back just in time to see Crowley land a solid punch. Jacob turned slightly and for a split second I thought he had managed to dodge a second hit, but instead he swung around, a full 360°, before he crashed his elbow straight into the center of Crowley's face, hitting him straight on his nose. Blood sprayed across my face, and splattered down the front of me as Crowley's eyes flew open wider than I thought possible before he fell to the floor with a resounding thud. For a brief moment the room fell completely silent as everyone stared at the huge wrestler's fallen frame.

Garrett waved a scarlet rag in the air as he jumped off his chair and bounced over to stand over the wrestler's limp body, before dropping the rag over him. This action was like pulling the pin from a grenade triggering the crowd into action. Cash began changing hands once again, as expressions ranged from smug, to frustrated, to downright pissed off. I began being shoved around with the sudden comings and goings of the crowds. I could hear my name being called from somewhere in the distance but now the fight was over and Crowley had been picked up off the concrete by a few of his friends, I noticed the trail of red that was slashed across my top, I pulled the material away from me to see the extent of the damage, when a pair of heavy black boots stepped in front of me, diverting my attention away from my top and to them. My eyes travelled upwards over a pair of dark blue jeans spattered with blood, a heavy belt buckle, a set of -chiselled abs, a bare, tattooed chest drenched in sweat, and finally meeting a pair of warm, brown eyes. Just as my eyes met his I was shoved hard from behind, making me fall forward. Jacob caught me quickly before I fell flat on my face.

"Hey! Watch it! Get away from her! Now!"

Jacob growled over my head, as he helped me straighten up. His features contorted into a furious frown at anyone who happened to be pushing or shoving anyone within at least a three foot radius of me. His serious expression melted into a wide sunny smile at the sight of my cardigan, before he pulled the towel from around his shoulders and began dabbing at my face with it.

"Sorry about that, Pigeon."

Garrett appeared beside us and slapped his hand hard against the back of Jake's shoulder.

"C'mon, Hazard! You have some cash waitin' on ya!"

Jake's eyes didn't stray from mine as he gave me a tilted smile and winked at me as he spoke in a deep husky voice, "Damn shame about your sweater. It looked good on you."

In the next moment he was gone, engulfed by his fans, as he disappeared the way he came. "What were you thinking you bloody idiot?" Leah yelled, pulling on my arm.

"I thought I came here to see a fight?"I replied giving her my most dazzling smile as she laughed at me.

"You aren't supposed to be here, remember Bella," Embry chided me.

"Neither is Leah," I replied arching my eyebrow at him.

"Yeah well she didn't try to jump into the circle with a bloody fight going on did she?!" he frowned.

"Let's go."

Leah smiled at me as she wiped my face, with her hand.

"You are a huge pain in my ass, Bella but I love you so god damn much!" she shouted over the noise before letting out a chortle of laughter at Embry's retreating back. She hooked her arm around my neck, and we made our way up the stairs and out into the night, giggling and on a high.

Leah followed me into my dorm room, before she sneered at my roommate, Angela. I immediately peeled off the now ruined cardigan, throwing it into the trash bin, there was no point even trying to clean it. "That is disgusting. Where have you been?" Angela asked from her bed. I looked to Leah for help, who merely shrugged.

"Nosebleed. Are you telling me you haven't seen one of Bella's famous nosebleeds yet?"

Angela pushed her hair out of her eyes and shook her head.

"Oh, you will trust me."

She winked at me before she closed the door behind her. Less than a minute later, my phone chimed with a text from her. This was her normal routine, she always texted me seconds after we had left each other's company.

From Leah:

Staying wiv Em! Cu2morrow ring queen!

I peeked at Angela who was watching me as if my nose would suddenly start streaming blood at any moment.

"She was kidding," I said.

Angela nodded nonchalantly before returning to the pile of books she had spread out over her bed.

"I guess I'll get a shower then" I said, grabbing a towel and my shower bag.

"I'll alert the world's media for you," Angela deadpanned, keeping her head down.

The next day, Embry and Leah joined me for lunch. Normally I sat alone or sometimes Seth and Leah would sit with me but up until now Embry had always sat with his frat brothers. Usually I ate quickly and left before the majority of students entered. Today was no exception; I intended to sit alone, but since Leah and I had one of the few classes we shared together, today Embry had met us after class and walked us to the cafeteria. We were still chatting and eating as the other students began filtering into the large cafeteria, I was surprised as the chairs around me began being filled by either Embry's frat brothers or members of the football team. Some of them were at the fight, but no one mentioned my ring‐side experience. In fact no one mentioned the fight at all.

"Em," a passing voice called.

Embry nodded, as Leah and I both turned to see who it was. Jacob walked over and took a seat at the end of the table. He was followed by two very voluptuous, bottle-blondes wearing Sigma Kappa tees. One of them sat on Jacob's lap, the other sat beside him, rubbing her hands over his shirt, which was pulled taut across his muscles.

"I think I just threw up a little in my mouth," Leah muttered under her breath to me and Embry.

The blonde on Jacob's lap turned to glare at her. "I heard that, Skank."

Clearly the blonde didn't know Leah. Otherwise she would know Leah rarely kept anything she thought inside her head or that she rarely took shit from anyone, I bit down nervously on my lip waiting to see how Leah was going to react to being called a Skank in front of everyone. Embry knew Lee well enough not to step in and defend her, even though I knew it went against the very essence of who he was, he knew it wasn't worth the wrath of a pissed off Leah, so he just sat and waited for Leah's response, ready to jump up at a moment's notice just in case Leah decided to fly across the table at the girl, oblivious to what she had just done.

Leah picked the roll off my tray and threw it down the table, with a perfect aim, narrowly missing the girl's face. Something I knew she had done on purpose because had she wanted to, Leah could have thrown it hard enough to leave a bump - and that was with a roll that wasn't quite stale. But before the girl could say another word or react, Jacob moved his knee slightly, and sent her tumbling on to the floor.

"Ouch!" she squealed, looking up at Jacob with big puppy eyes and massive pouting lips.

"Leah is a friend of mine. You need to find another lap, Brit."

"Jacob!" she whined, as she scrambled to her feet, and pulling her tiny belt sized skirt down a little, not that it covered anymore than it had two seconds ago.

Jacob however ignored her and turned his attention to his plate. She looked at her sister, who looked mortified, whether it was because of what Jacob had done or that her sister had effectively got them dismissed in front of everyone, I didn't know and I really didn't care. The blonde huffed in indignation before they both glared at Lee and I before they left hand in hand.

Jacob winked at Leah, and then as if nothing had happened, continued to shovel food into his mouth, as if he was starving. This was the first time I actually looked up at Jacob and took in his appearance. He was deeply tanned like Embry, but I knew from Leah that Embry was Native American, and since he and Jake's fathers were brothers, it made sense they looked similar, in that respect. I only knew this tidbit of information because Leah gushed about how amazingly perfect Embry was in the first weeks of them being together. It was now that I looked at them both that I could see the similarities between the two of them. Both had jet black hair, but Jacob's was cut very short and styled into spikes that jutted out in an array of different directions, whereas Embry's hair was slightly longer and tended to fall into his eyes a lot. I figured Jacob's style was more likely for convenience than style. It was only now that I noticed a small cut on his eyebrow, and a small scar above his other eyebrow, near his hairline. Both men were extremely tall, well over 6 feet and then some. Embry had dark brown eyes, that looked nearly black in some lights, and if I remembered right, Jacob's were much lighter like a warm brown, almost honey like brown. Both men were incredibly muscular but in a natural way, like they got their physique from working hard, rather than living in the gym. However Jake still managed to make Embry and in fact the other boys' at the table, impressive muscles look ordinary.

Jacob traded glances with Embry, before he began a conversation with one of the guys from the football team who was sat across from him.

By now the lunch table had thinned somewhat, Leah, Embry and I stayed put to discuss our plans for the weekend. Jacob stood up to leave, but stopped at our end of the table. "What?" Embry asked loudly, holding his hand to his ear, his eyebrow raised and his lips pulled into a sarcastic grin.

I attempted to ignore them for as long as possible, but when no reply came from either Embry or the man who stood next to me, I looked up to find Jacob was actually staring at me, like he was waiting for something.

"You know her, Jake; Leah's best friend? She was with us last night," Embry said each statement as if it was obvious to everyone else, but he had an edge to his voice, I hadn't heard before, not even last night.

Jacob smiled down at me in what I could only assume was his most charming way- one that looked well rehearsed. He oozed rebelliousness, danger and sex with his piercing honey brown eyes, his rippling tanned muscles and tattooed forearms. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to entice me in.

"Since when do you have a best friend, Lee?" He asked.

"Since junior year," she answered, pressing her lips together as she tried not to smile and winked in my direction. "Don't you remember, Jacob? You ruined her brand new sweater."

Jacob gave a wide smile, "I ruin a lot of sweaters" as he shrugged nonchalantly in response.

"Ugh," I muttered and looked back down at my plate pretending it was suddenly the most exciting thing I'd laid eyes on, anything to stop the three of them from seeing my face flush with embarrassment.

Jacob spun the empty chair around beside me and straddled it, resting his arms along the back of it. "So you're the Pigeon, huh?"

"No," I snapped. "I have a name."

He seemed amused at my response to him, which only made me angrier.

"Well? What is it?" he asked.

I speared the last bit of apple on my plate, with my fork and decided to ignore him.

"Pigeon it is, then," he shrugged.

I glanced up at Leah who was leaning back in her chair clearly amused at our interaction, which annoyed me further. I turned to Jacob again, tried to give him my best annoyed face before snapping "I'm trying to eat, here" and pushing the fork into my mouth to prove my point.

Jacob seemed to see this as a challenge. "My name's Jacob. Jacob Black." I rolled my eyes at this, "I know who you are."

"You do, huh?" Jacob said, raising his wounded eyebrow, seemingly pleased with my reply.

"Don't flatter yourself. It's hard not to notice when fifty or so drunken idiots are chanting your name. "

Jacob sat up a bit taller "yeah I get that a lot." I rolled my eyes again, which made him chuckle. "Do you have a twitch?"

"A what?"

"A twitch. Ya know in your eye? Your eyes keep wiggling around." He rolled his eyes as if to demonstrate what he meant and then laughed when I glared at him. "Those are some amazing eyes though," he said, leaning in so he was just inches from my face. "Chocolate brown has always been my favorite color"

I looked down to my plate again as I felt the all too familiar flush rise up my neck and spread over my cheeks, I let the long strands of my mahogany hair fall around my face to create a curtain between us. I didn't like the way he made me feel when he was so close. I didn't want to be like every other girl at UDub that blushed in his presence. I didn't want him to affect me in any way at all.

"Don't even think about it, Jacob. She's like my sister," Leah warned.

"Baby," Embry groaned. "You just told him no. You know that's like a red flag to a bull! He's never gonna stop, now."

"You're not her type," Leah tried again.

Travis faked insult at her comment. "I'll have you know Lee I am everyone's type!"

I peeked up at him as a smile crept across my face.

"Ah! A smile. I actually got a smile! I feel privileged, see I'm not a rotten bastard after all," he gave me a broad smile that spread across his whole face and reached his eyes as he winked down at me. "It was nice to meet you, Pidge." He walked around the table and leaned down and whispered something into Leah's ear.

Embry threw a fry from his plate at his cousin. "Get your dirty lips outta my girl's ear, Jake!" "What?" Jake feigned innocence "I'm just networking!" Jake called out as he walked out with his hands held up in an innocent gesture.

A few girls followed behind him, giggling and twirling their hair through their fingers to get his attention. He opened the door for them, and they all squealed in delight, I watched him give them all a large charming smile and the chorus of giggles which resonated around the cafeteria told me his charms had worked on them.

Leah laughed. "Oh no. You're in trouble, Bella."

"What did he say?" I asked, warily.

"He wants you to bring her to the apartment, doesn't he?" Embry snapped. Leah nodded and he shook his head. "You're a smart girl, Bella. You know what he is like! Hell you can see it for yaself!" He said, pointing his hand in the direction he had gone, without looking over his shoulder. "It's because I like you that I'm even gonna say this- because I really hope you aren't gonna be dumb enough too, but if you fall for his shit and then end up getting angry at him for it- you can't take it out on me and Leah, all right?"

I smiled at him with my most sincere smile, "I can promise you now Em I won't fall for it. Do I look like one of the Barbie doll wannabes to you?"

"She won't fall for it," Leah assured him, wrapping her arm around his waist, and twisting his arm around her neck.

"This isn't my first Rodeo, Lee. Do you have any idea how many times he's fucked things up for me because he can't keep his pants on and sleeps with the best friend? And then suddenly it's against girl code or something for them to date me because I'm suddenly the enemy because he's my cousin! I'm tellin' ya, Bella, no I'm begging you please don't fall for his shit" he looked at me earnestly. I smiled up at him "Em honestly it's okay don't worry", he didn't look appeased at all "at least promise me that you won't tell Lee she can't see me or stay over or date me anymore because you fell for Jake's line of BS." I nodded, "I consider myself warned, unnecessarily, but it's appreciated, thanks" I said. I tried to assure him again with a smile, but I couldn't find it in myself to be upset by his lack of trust or his pessimism, after all he had spent years by the sound of it being burned by Jake's exploits.

Leah and Embry got up along with me and Leah waved as she left with Embry as I walked over to my afternoon lecture. I raised my hand over my eyes to shield them from the bright sun, as I gripped my backpack straps. UDub was exactly what I had hoped it would be; Leah had argued we should go somewhere large so we could blend in, and get lost amongst the hoards of other students but I hadn't wanted that. I wanted the smaller classrooms and as much as I wanted a sea of unfamiliar faces, I just wanted the chance to become who I was supposed to be, for a new start; I could finally walk somewhere without people whispering about my past; whether they did know or thought they knew it was always the same. Here I blended in with all the other wide- eyed, over-achieving freshman on their way to class; no one was staring, or whispering, there wasn't any rumors, and more importantly no pity or judgment. The only thing they did see was the illusion I wanted them to see: the smart, cashmere cardigan wearing, pearl wearing, ponytail school ma'am no- nonsense look of the new Bella Swan.

I collapsed into my chair and slid my backpack off my shoulders and down on to the floor, before bending down to pull my laptop from it. I popped back up with it in my hand, and pushed my ponytail back over my head just as Jacob fell into the next seat.

"Oh good! You can take notes for me," he exclaimed as he popped a chewing gum into his mouth, before turning and giving me what must be one of his most charming smiles.

Shooting him a disgusted look, as I set my laptop down onto my desk, "What on earth are you even doing here? You're not even in this class."

"The hell I'm not!" He exclaimed, surprised at my comment, "I usually sit up there," he said, nodding to the top row. I looked up to see a group of girls all staring at me, with looks of shock, disgust and what I think was indignation, as I noticed the empty chair in the center of them.

Turning around and switching my laptop on. "Whatever, I'm still not taking notes for you," I replied.

Jacob leaned in so close that I could feel his breath against my cheek. "I'm sorry. . . Did I offend you in some way?" He asked sincerely or so it seemed.

I sighed and shook my head in reply.

"Then what the hell is your problem?" He asked.

I tried to keep my voice low as possible as I replied "I'm not sleeping with you. So you should give up, now."

A smile slowly crept across his face as his eyes danced before he spoke. "I haven't asked you to sleep with me," his eyes drifted up towards the ceiling as if he was deep in thought, "or have I?"

"No!" I replied irritated "but I am not one of your Barbie dolls nor am I one of your little groupies up there," I said, glancing up at the girls behind us. "I am not impressed with your tattoos, your boyish charm, or faked indifference, or your bad boy image so you can just stop the antics, okay?"

"Okay, Pigeon." He seemed infuriatingly unaffected by my rudeness. "Why don't you come over with Leah tonight?" He asked. I sneered at his request, but this only made him lean in closer. "I'm not trying to bag you. I just wanna hang out."

"Bag me? Seriously? Bag me?! How do you even get laid talking like that?"

Jacob burst into a loud, husky laugh that shook his body with its vibrations and made nearly everyone turn to look at us, and made me wish I could hide under my hair again. I was regretting putting it up after lunch now. Jake shook his head and smiled broadly at me the same sunny smile he had given me the night before, "Just come over. I promise I won't even flirt with you. I swear" he said holding up his hand as if he was pledging on the bible.

My eyebrows shot up on their own accord, but I didn't respond, instead I turned to look straight ahead. Jacob let out another loud raucous laugh, making even more people stop and stare at us, and I could feel my face begin to glow under the familiar warmth.

"So?" He asked again, I shook my head in annoyance and snapped "I'll think about it", just as Professor Cullen strolled in, and Jacob finally turned his attention to the front of the room. A smile lingered on his lips, which made the dimple in his cheek sink in. Something I had never noticed before and then I was mortified I had noticed it now. The more he smiled, the more I wanted to hate him, yet the more he smiled the harder it was to do just that.

"Who can tell me which President had a cross -eyed wife with a bad case of the uglies?" Professor Cullen asked.

"Make sure you get that down," he stage whispered. "I'm gonna need to know that for job interviews."

"Sshh," I snapped, as I typed every word Professor Cullen spoke.

Jacob merely grinned and relaxed into his chair. As the hour progressed, he alternated between yawning and fidgeting around in his chair, to fiddling with the pen in his hand, and leaning against my arm to look over my shoulder at my notes on the screen. I had to make a concentrated effort to ignore him, but his proximity and the muscles which were bulging in his arm, under his t-shirt made it extremely difficult, which only infuriated me further. Jacob began picking at the black leather band around his wrist, until the professor finally dismissed us.

I quickly slammed my laptop shut and hurried out the door not even bothering to put it away in my backpack and headed down the hall. Just when I felt sure I was a safe distance away to stop and finally put my laptop into my backpack Jacob Black was at my side again.

"Have you thought about it yet?" he asked as he slipped on his sunglasses.

A petite redheaded girl stepped in front of us, wide-eyed and hopeful. "Hi Jacob," she purred while pouting at him with bright pink glossy lips, as she played with her hair, she discreetly stepped in between us, flicking her hair, in my face. Rolling my eyes l began putting my laptop away, only to recoil from the sickly sweet bubble gum tone, she was using as I looked up at her in shock. Shoving my laptop in quickly, I walked around them. I'd seen her before, talking normally in the commons area of the girls' dorm, at Regents Hall. Her tone had sounded much more mature and even intelligent then, it made me wonder what it was about this babyish voice she thought Jacob or any man would find sexy and alluring. The girl continued to talk in her much higher octave it was so high I was half surprised she hadn't attracted any stray dogs or a dolphin or two to them. A few minutes after I had set off Jacob was next to me once again.

Pulling a lighter and a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, he lit one before blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. "Where was I? Oh yeah...you were thinking."

I grimaced, damn it, I had been hoping the Jessica Rabbit wannabe would have distracted him enough to forget, "What are you talking about?" I asked irritated.

"Have you thought about coming over?" He asked again, slowly this time, like he was talking to a child or someone with a much lower IQ than he did. Clearly he thought speaking slower would make it easier for me to understand. I suddenly had the urge to stamp my foot at him in frustration.

"If I say yes, will you quit following me around?"

He considered my request and then nodded "Yep."

"Fine."

"Fine? Me? Why thank you for noticing but I'm still waiting for an answer- will you come over?" He gave me a lopsided smile that made his dimple appear again- dammit it was that smile and dimple that made it impossible to remain angry at him.

"I said fine- yes I will, now will you leave me alone?"

"When?"

I sighed, "Tonight. I'll come over tonight." May as well get it over with I thought stubbornly.

Jacob's face lit up with a full on beaming, toothy smile and stopped in his tracks, as I carried on walking "Sweet. See you later than, Pidge," he called after me.

I rounded the corner to see Leah standing with Seth outside our dorm. The three of us had ended up at the same table at freshman orientation, and I knew he would be the welcome third wheel to our well- oiled machine. He wasn't excessively tall, but still he towered over my five feet, four inches. His round eyes offset his long, lean features, and his black hair, to which he had bleached the tips and it was usually fashioned into a spike at the front.

"Jacob Black? Jesus, Bella, since when did you start fishing in the deep end?" Seth asked with disapproving eyes and an even more disapproving tone.

Leah pulled the gum from her mouth in a long string. "You're only making it worse by brushing him off Bella. He's not used to that. At all. I'm sure Em said Jake has never had anyone turn him down- ever! He always wins, no matter what it is, Bells. You're playing with fire."

"Yeah and looks like you're gonna get burned alive girl" Seth added in a camp voice snapping his wrist, manically, making us all laugh and lightening the mood significantly.

"What do you suggest I do Lee? Sleep with him? Just so he leaves me alone?" Leah shrugged. "Well it would save a lot of time." I ignored her remark that eventually Jacob Black would 'bag' me.

"I told him I'd come over tonight."

Both Seth and Leah's mouths fell open as they traded glances.

"What? Look he wouldn't leave me alone, he even sat next to me in class- a class I didn't even know he took with me!" Leah burst into loud laughter, holding her middle. "Some kind of warning would have been nice" I snapped. "Anyway he kept asking and talking over Professor Cullen, when I was trying to listen, so to shut him up I said I'd think about it." Leah wiped a tear from her cheek, as she shook her head, and shared another knowing look at with Seth, who gave a large smirk, at least he was polite enough to try and conceal his merriment. Ignoring them both, I carried on, "Then even though I tried to escape him he still managed to find me and he followed me Lee. He followed me Leah! He kept pestering me the whole time, he wouldn't leave me alone. Anyway he finally promised he would leave me alone and quit following me and annoying me if I said yes. So I said yes. What else was I meant to do? I wanted him to leave me alone! You are going over there tonight, right?" I added suddenly unsure of my plan.

"Well, yeah," Leah replied. "Are you really gonna come?"

Relieved, I smiled at them both before walking past them into our dorm building, wondering whether Jacob would keep his promise not to flirt.

He wasn't hard to figure out; he either saw me as a challenge, or safely unattractive enough to be a good friend. I wasn't sure which bothered me more.


	6. Chapter 1 AWD Jacob's story

******Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**A Walking Disaster- Jacob's story**

Chapter One

_Pigeon_

Fucking vultures.

Everywhere you look there one was. There's another one over there, oh look another. And another. And another. But the thing about vultures - the thing that makes them worse, isn't that you are suddenly surrounded by them, or that everywhere you look you see one circling waiting. Nope! It is the waiting! The game of waiting that they play with you. They can wait on you, for hours, for days, for nights as well. Even a week or two. Just waiting. Waiting and staring. Staring and waiting. Staring right through you, while they mentally pick over which part of you they want first. Deciding which part of you they will pull away first, the pieces which would be the sweetest, the most tender, or the most convenient.

Except what these vultures don't know, what they never anticipate, is that maybe, just maybe, the prey is faking. You see it's the vultures that are easy. They just think all they have to do is be patient, to sit back and wait for you to give up, surrender, expire, and that is when you hit them. That's when you bring in the secret weapon: a complete and utter lack of respect for the status quo; and refuse to give in to them, to the order of things.

That's when you show them just how little you care- how much you don't give a fuck.

There will always be vultures circling, waiting to strike, always. Whether it is an opponent in the Circle, or some random asshole trying to expose your weaknesses with insults, or even some woman trying to tie you down; they will always be there, circling, always waiting, and that's when you shock 'em; it gets them every time. Every single time.

What people don't realize was I had learned early on in life, to live my life this way. These douche bags that went around with their bleeding hearts, giving their soul to every gold-digging, panty dropping whore that smiled at them had it all wrong. They had it all twisted up, and yet somehow I was the one swimming upstream. I was the odd man out.

Always the odd man out.

Ya'see I honestly believe their way is the hard way. To me you leave emotion at the door, and replace it with numbness or anger; to me anger being the easier of the two to control. Whereas letting yourself be made to feel vulnerable…

Nope not for me. Never gonna happen.

Yet no matter how many times as I tried to explain this major error in their ways to my brothers, cousins, or friends, I was always met with distrust and skepticism. I couldn't remember the amount of times I'd have to sit there, yet again, and watch them crying or losing sleep over some dumb whore in a pair of fuck-me heels that had never given a shit about them in the first place, and I couldn't understand it, couldn't understand why time and time again, they'd fall for another bitch in a tiny skirt with pouty lips, and even after every heartbreak they would still look at me like I was some kind of cold, calculated monster for telling them to seal their heart off from all emotions.

Ya'see I knew something they didn't - The women who were worth that kind of heartbreak wouldn't come so easily, they wouldn't let you fall for them so easy either. The women worth the heartbreak wouldn't drop their panties the first chance they got, they wouldn't bend over your couch, or allow you to persuade them into their bedroom on the first night—or even the fifteenth .

Yet my theories were laughed at, scorned or ignored because that wasn't the way things were supposed to go. It always went the same way: attraction, sex, infatuation, love, and then heartbreak. That was the order of things. And, it was always the order.

But not for me. No. Fucking. Way.

I had decided a long time ago I would feed on the vultures until a dove came along; a pigeon. The kind of person, no, the kind of soul, that didn't hinder, impede, or disrupt anyone; just walked around worrying about their own business, all the while trying to get through life without pulling everyone else down with their own needs or selfish habits. Someone that was brave, beautiful, intelligent and softly spoken. Someone who could not only hold a conversation, but had their own opinions, and thoughts and wasn't afraid to stand up for the things they believed in. The girl who would take my heart, body, and soul would be funny, thoughtful and kind, strong and independent; who would love me for the rest of her life; who is unattainable until she has a reason to let you in, a reason to trust you. Like a creature who mated for life, that was what I wanted.

As I stood at my open apartment doorway, and flicked the last bit of ash off my cigarette, the girl in the bloody, pale pink cardigan from the Circle flashed into my mind. Without even thinking, I'd called her Pigeon. But at the time it was just a dumb name to try and make her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. Her blood-spattered face, her doe like eyes wide with fright, outwardly she seemed innocent, but I knew instinctively it was just her clothes. Shaking my head I pushed her memory away as I stared blankly into the living room.

Lauren laid idly on the couch, watching TV. She looked disinterested and bored out of her mind. I wondered why she was still even here, in my apartment; usually she got her crap together and left straight after I'd bagged her.

The door gave a loud complaint as I pushed it open a little wider. Clearing my throat I picked up my backpack by the straps. "Lauren. I'm leaving." I called out to the girl, still lazily sprawled across the couch.

She turned and looked at me, before she sat up and made a show of stretching.

Gripping the chain of her suitcase sized purse- what she kept in there I had no idea I couldn't imagine she even had enough belongings to fill the damn thing! She stood up, slipped the silver links over her shoulder, and finally pushed her feet into her fuck-me heels, and sashayed out the door.

"Text me," she said without glancing in my direction, and then almost like she heard the hiss in my breathe she added "next time you're bored", emphasizing her meaning to me, as I sighed inwardly. She slipped her oversized sunglasses on and continued to saunter her way down the stairs, completely unaffected at the dismissal by me. But it was her indifference, why I kept Lauren as one of my few, select flyers. She knew our arrangement and accepted it for what it was, and then went on her way. She didn't cry that she wanted more from me, or that she wanted commitment, or throw a tantrum when I refused anything more than what I already gave her.

The love of my life glistened in all her glory in the morning autumn sun. I waited for Lauren to get in her car and pull away before I jogged down the stairs towards my Harley, zipping up my jacket as I did so. Dr. Randall's humanities class was in half an hour, but since he didn't care if I was late I didn't really see the point of killing myself to get there on time.

"Hey Jake! Wait up!" a voice called from behind me.

Embry stood in the front door of our apartment, shirtless while attempting to balance on one foot while trying to pull a sock onto his other foot, and wobbling around a lot in the process. "I meant to ask you last night. What did you say to Crowley? Ya'no before the fight? He looked like he was gonna kill you there and then."

"I thanked him for leaving town a few weekends back, because his mother was shit hot in the sack." I laughed giving him a knowing wink.

Embry stared at me, skeptically. "Dude. You didn't!"

"No but I heard from Rachel that he had got a Minor for Possession so ya'no..."

He shook his head in disbelief, before nodding his head back towards the couch. "Did you actually let Lauren spend the night this time?"

I gave a deep loud laugh, "Don't be ridiculous Em! You know me better than that."

"She just came over to get some before class, then? Huh, fun way to start her day, and claim you for the day."

I looked up at him surprised, "Do you think that's what it was?"

"Well look at it like this - anyone else gets her seconds." Embry shrugged. "Who knows, it's Lauren! No one knows how she thinks. Listen, I've gotta take Leah back to campus. Want a ride?"

"I'll meet you later," I said, slipping on my Ray-Ban's. "I can take Lee if you want."

Embry's face quickly contorted. "Uh… no", he exclaimed, before hastily adding, "No Thanks" to be polite.

Amused at his reaction, I swung my leg over the Harley and ripped the engine. Even though I had an awful habit of seducing all of his girlfriend's friends, that was the one line I wouldn't cross. Once he showed even a hint of interest in a girl she was off limits, and Leah was his. She wouldn't even appear on my radar, never to be considered again. Even if it was just a sniff of an interest. But Embry knew all of this. He knew I'd never do that to him, any girl he was with became invisible to me, or if I liked her, a friend maybe. He knew that. He just liked to give me shit about it all the time.

I met up with Garrett behind our Sig Tau building after my morning classes. He was the guy that created and ran the Circle. Ever since the first fight, I'd let him pick up the winnings and then meet him the following day to get them, but I would always give him a cut for his trouble. But by now we had a good running arrangement; he kept the cover and I kept the winnings. However our relationship was strictly business, we preferred it this way and kept things simple. As long as he paid me, I would stay out of his way, and as long as he stayed out of mine- he knew he wouldn't get his ass handed to him.

Happy with my winnings, I made my way across the campus to the cafeteria. Just before I reached the heavy double metal doors, Britney and Whitney stepped in front of me.

"Hey, Jakey," Britney said, standing in what I could only assume to be her idea of a model like pose. Her perfectly tanned, silicone-enlarged breasts peered out like two bald men's heads from inside her red T-shirt. Those irresistible, bouncing breasts had been the sole, well, two reasons I had bagged her already, but once was enough. Even for those mounds, I wasn't about to put in a repeat. Her squeaky baby voice reminded me every time I heard it of the sound a balloon made as you let the air out of it slowly, not to mention Eric Yorkie had bagged her the following night. Yep definitely not going there again.

"Hey, Britney," I quickly stubbed my cigarette out and threw it into the trash before quickly walking past her and her sister through the doors. Even the buffet of limp vegetables, dry meat, and overripe fruits seemed much more appealing than standing here talking to her. Jesus. Her voice could make dogs howl, and children look up to see which of their favorite cartoon character had suddenly come to life.

Unperturbed by my dismissal, both of the girls followed behind me like geese following a toddler with bread.

"Em." I nodded. He was sitting with Leah, laughing and chatting with the people around his end of the table. The girl I had called 'Pigeon' at the fight was sat across from him, poking her food around her plate with her fork. My voice seemed to have caught her attention. I could feel her big eyes curiously follow me as I tossed my tray on to the end of the table, where there was a few empty seats still.

I heard Britney giggle as I tossed my tray, making me desperately restrain the irritation I could feel boiling up inside me. When I sat down she decided to use my knee as a chair.

I looked up to see some of the guys from the football team sitting around the table watching me in awe, I sniffed a silent laugh. They were fools. As if being followed by two inarticulate sluts was by anyone's standards some kind of achievement.

Whitney's hands were running up and down my arm, while Britney had slid her hand on to my leg, pressing her fingers into my thigh as she made her way up the inseam of my jeans. As long as she didn't speak she could carry on doing what she was doing, I decided. So I spread my legs a little wider, and waited for her to reach her target.

Just before her hands reached their destination, Leah's loud whisper directed at the Pigeon, if anyone at all, travelled down the table to us.

"I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth."

Britney's whole body went rigid, as she turned to glare over her shoulder at Leah. "I heard that, Skank."

A bread roll suddenly flew past, just narrowly missing Britney's face. Embry and I looked at each other, before I let my knee flop to the side.

Britney's pert little ass bounced off the tiled floor and I have to admit, it actually turned me on a little when I heard the skin of her ass slap against the tiles.

She pouted at me after squealing at me, but didn't complain as much as she could of. Embry seemed to appreciate the gesture, and that was all that mattered. My toleration for girls like Brit only lasted basically as long as it took to bag them, and maybe a little while after if I was feeling cordial, after that it ran out pretty quickly. I had one fundamental rule: respect; whether it was for me, my family, or for my friends. I expected it. Hell, I even knew some people I couldn't stand that deserved respect. However my tolerance for people, who didn't understand that life lesson, was basically non-existent; I had no reason to even bother to associate with people like that. Yeah I know it makes me sound like a hypocrite and I'm pretty sure all of the women I've bagged would think it's hypocritical as well, but you know what- if they had carried themselves with respect, I would have given it to them; simple as that.

I winked at Leah, who seemed; I wouldn't say grateful or pleased but I think the gesture was appreciated none the less. I nodded at Em, and then shovelled in another forkful of whatever was on my plate.

"Nice job last night, Hazard," Mike Newton said, flicking something across the table, at Yorkie, another football player, in a juvenile manner, clearly trying to start some kind of small scale food fight.

"Shut up, dumb ass," Emmett McCarty said in a low stressed voice. "Garrett will never let you go to another if he hears you're talking."

"Oh. Right yeah" Newton said, shrugging.

I stood, rolling my eyes and dumped my tray in the trash before returning to my seat with a frown "and don't call me that either."

"What? The Hazard?" Drawing out the annoying nickname as much as he could and doing air quotes as a stupid smirk stretched across his dim-witted face as he did so.

"Yeah that."

"Why not? I thought that's ya fight name? Like a wrestler or kinda like you're a stripper," He sniggered.

My eyes targeted Newton. "I tell you what dipshit- why don't you shut up for a minute and give that hole in ya head a chance to heal before I fill it with my fist?"

Newton was another one I couldn't stand. I had never liked him, far too slimy for my liking.

"Sure Jake, ya just had to say so." He gave a nervous laugh before quickly gathering his tray and speed walking it to the trash near the exit before disappearing through it.

Before long, the lunchroom was pretty much empty. I glanced down to see Embry and Leah were still here, talking with her friend. Pigeon had long, wavy hair, and her skin was pale but in a healthy way with just the hints of a slight tint which I guessed was from her summer break. She definitely didn't have the biggest tits I'd ever seen, they weren't tiny either, but they were 100% natural. However it was her eyes . . . They seemed to look straight through you, deep into your soul, into the recesses even you'd long forgotten about, they were a warm chocolate brown color; familiar somehow.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I'd never met her before, but something about her face reminded me of something or someone I just couldn't put my finger on.

I stood up and walked toward her, almost as if I was being pulled. She had the hair of a movie star, an adult movie star, but a movie star none the less and her face; her face was that of an angel. Her eyes were huge, almond shaped, and so uniquely beautiful. Like giant orbs of melting chocolate you just wanted to swim in, as soon as their graze fell upon you.

That was when I saw it: behind the beauty and forged innocence was something else hidden, something cold, and devious, and dark. Even when she gave a rare smile, I could see sin that was so deeply ingrained in her that no matter how many cardigans she wore they could never hide it.

I thought I was good at reading people, it was what I did. I was good at it. I had to be, everyday another vulture would try to take a bite out of me.

But looking at her, at those eyes which sparkled like glitter in the sun, floating above that tiny nose, and smooth features; I could see what everyone saw when they looked at her, but I could see under the mask, the real her. To anyone else, she was this pure and naive freshman out in the big world for the first time but I could see that this girl was hiding something.

I knew I was right, because the same sin dwelled in me and had my entire life. The only difference between us was she buried her deep within her soul and me, well mine quite literally escaped out its cage on a regular basis.

I watched Embry until he felt me staring at him and eventually looked my way I nodded my head, in the pigeon's direction.

As I mouthed Who's that?

Embry gave a confused frown.

Her, I silently mouthed again, and flicked my head in her direction again.

Embry's mouth twisted into the annoying asshole of a grin he always uses when he is about to do something just to piss me off.

"What?" Embry asked a hell of a lot louder than actually necessary.

I instantly knew this girl was aware we were talking about her, because she didn't look up to Embry's loud ass talking and she kept her head down, instead pretending not to have heard anything.

After spending only sixty seconds in this girl's presence, I had learned two things: she didn't talk much, and when she did she was actually quite a bitch about it. But I don't know... I kind of liked it- it actually made me dig her a lot more. I knew it was just a front to keep assholes like me out, but knowing that just made me even more determined to make her let me in.

She had rolled her eyes at me for the third or fourth time I knew I was majorly beginning to annoy her yet I was finding her annoyance pretty amusing. A girl had never treated me with such unadulterated loathing before, even when I was showing them the door.

When even my most charming smiles didn't work, I knew I had to turn it up a notch.

"Do you have a twitch?"

"A what?" she asked.

"A twitch. Your eyes keep wiggling around." I wriggled my own at her, to demonstrate what I meant just to annoy her a little more.

If looks could kill I would have been murdered right there and then on the cafeteria's floor. I couldn't help but laugh. She truly was a smart-ass and she really was as rude as hell. But it was making me like her more every second.

I leaned closer to her face. "Those are some amazing eyes, though. Chocolate brown has always been my favourite color".

She immediately ducked her head, letting her hair cover her face. Score. I made her uncomfortable, and that meant I was getting somewhere.

Leah promptly jumped in, and warned me away. Hell I couldn't even blame her. After all she'd seen the endless line of girls come in and out of the apartment first hand. I didn't want to piss Leah off, but she didn't look angry. In fact I'd say she looked more like she was amused.

"You're not her type," Leah stated.

My mouth fell open, playing straight into her game. "I'll have you know Lee I am everyone's type" I retorted.

I saw Pigeon peek over at me and grin. As a warm feeling—probably just an insane urge to throw her on my couch—came over me. She was different, and it was refreshing.

"Ah! A smile," I said. Simply calling it a smile, seemed like blasphemy! Pretending it wasn't the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, seemed wrong, but I wasn't about to fuck up my game when I was just getting ahead, anything nice I said would be dismissed as a line so I decided to forego anything that sounded even remotely 'flirty'. "I actually got a smile! I feel privileged, see I'm not a rotten bastard after all. It was nice to meet you, Pidge."

I walked around the table, and leaned into Leah's ear. "Help me out here. I'll behave, I swear."

A French fry came hurtling toward my face, hitting me on the ear.

"Get your dirty lips outta my girl's ear, Jake!" Embry snapped.

I stood up and backed away slowly, holding both hands up in surrender, attempting to highlight my innocence along with the most pure, wholesome expression on my face that I can conjure up. "I'm networking!" I continued to walk backward a few more steps to the door, until I noticed a small group of girls. I opened the door, and they swarmed through like a herd of cows on their way to be milked all giggling and flicking hair, before I could let myself out.

It had been so long since I'd had a challenge. I couldn't even remember when it had been. But the weird thing was, I wasn't out to just fuck her. The problem was it bothered me that she obviously thought I was a piece of shit, but it bothered me more that I cared. Either way, for the first time in a very long time, someone was different, she was unreadable, and unpredictable. Pigeon was the complete opposite of the girls I'd met here and I had to know why.

Cullen's class was full as normal. I took the steps to my seat two at a time, and then waded through a sea of bare legs crowding my desk.

I nodded. "Ladies."

Each of them all hummed and sighed in harmony, before they were all falling over themselves to greet me.

Vultures. Half of them I'd bagged in my first year, the other half, well they had all been on my couch well before fall break. Except one, the girl on the end; I think her name began with a J… Joanne, Janet, Jessica or something. She flashed me a crooked smile. Her face looked like she didn't see a really good skin doctor. Not to mention I knew she had been with a few of my frat brothers. Knowing their track records and her total lack of concern for safety, I had ruled her out as an unnecessary risk, even if I was always careful, and I was. Every. Single. God. Damn. Time. She leaned forward on to her elbows to get better eye contact with me, and to give me a good view of the cleavage. I fought the urge to shudder with disgust, but managed to restrain it- just about. Nope. Not even close to being worth it.

The blonde in front of me turned around and began batting her lashes at me like she had something in them. "Hey Jacob I hear there's a date party coming up at Sig Tau."

"No," I said without even thinking.

Her bottom lip formed into a pout. "But . . . you said…" I looked at her, arching my eyebrow at her, waiting, she stuttered over her words before continuing, "er… erm.. well when you told me about it, I thought that meant you wanted to go."

I sniffed a laugh in response. "I was slating it. That's not the same thing."

Another blonde next to me leaned forward and laughed a loud sarcastic laugh at the brunette who had spoken, "Everyone knows Jacob Black doesn't do date parties. So you're barking up the wrong tree, Heidi."

"Oh really? Well, no one asked you Jane," Heidi said with a frown.

As the girls argued back and forth, I noticed Bella rush in. Practically throwing herself into a desk in the front, just before the bell rang.

Before I even knew what I was doing or could ask myself why, I had grabbed my paper and stuck my pen in my mouth, and was jogging down the steps, and sliding into the desk next to her.

The look on Bella's face was priceless, and for some reason that was completely alien to myself, it caused adrenaline to flood through my body—the kind that I used to experience before a fight.

"Good. You can take notes for me."

She was utterly disgusted, which only pleased me more. Most girls bored me out of my god damn mind, but this girl, well she was truly intriguing me, entertaining me, even. I didn't faze her, at least not in a positive way. My very presence seemed to make her want to puke, and I found that strangely alluring.

Suddenly the urge to find out if it was really hate she felt for me, or if she was just a hard-ass, came over me and I leaned in closer. "I'm sorry . . . did I offend you in some way?"

Her eyes softened slightly before she shook her head. Ah, so she didn't hate me. She just wanted to hate me. I was way ahead of her. If she wanted to play, I could play. I had a feeling this was going to get very interesting and be a lot of fun.

"Then what the hell is your problem?"

She seemed embarrassed to say what came next. "I'm not sleeping with you. You should give up, now."

Oh yeah. This was going to be so much fun. "I haven't asked you to sleep with me . . . or have I?" I let my eyes drift to the ceiling, as if I had to think about it. She looked irritated as shook her head furiously at me, making her hair, which was now in a pony tail, whip at round her. "No!" she spat out before giving a little speech, about how I had no effect on her, I smiled as she spoke which only made her grow more agitated. "Why don't you come over with Leah tonight?" I asked as I leant closer in towards her.

Bella's lip curled upwards, as if she'd smelled something rotten. Her responses were making me laugh harder than I had in a long time, and the louder I laughed, the more people turned to stare at us, and the more she squirmed and the pinker her cheeks glowed.

"I won't even flirt with you, I swear."

"I'll think about it."

I tried not to smile as much as I wanted too simply because I knew it would give me away. She wasn't going to roll over like all the other vultures like those above us. I glanced behind us, and sure enough they were all giving evil glares to the back of Bella's head. They knew as well as I did. Bella wasn't like them, she was different, and in a good way. I knew I was going to have to work for this one. For once. I couldn't wait.

Three sketches of potential tattoos, and about twenty 3-D boxes later, class was finally dismissed. I managed to slip out the room and into the halls before anyone could stop me. I thought I made good time, but Bella had somehow managed to end up outside before me and was a good twenty yards ahead of me.

As I looked up at her retreating figure it hit me- she was trying to avoid me. I'll be damned! After my realization I sped up until I leveled with her. "Have you thought about it?"

"Jacob!" A girl called, playing with her hair. She wriggled her way in front of Bella, who kept going and left me stuck listening to this girl's nauseating gabble.

"Sorry, uh . . ."

"Chelsea."

"Sorry, Chrissy. . . I'm . . . Listen I've gotta go."

"It's Chelsea! Silly!" She giggled before she unexpectedly wrapped her arms around me I looked down at her hair with shock. I had no idea who the hell this girl was. So I patted her backside, and gently unwrapped her arms, from my waist, did a jiggle to get out of her grasp, and started walking away quickly.

Before I could figure out who the hell this Chel-ssy was, Bella's long, shapely legs came into view, and all thoughts of the other girl vanished. Popping a cigarette into my mouth I jogged to catch up with her again. "Where was I? Oh yeah . . . you were thinking."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not even trying to attempt to hide the annoyance in her voice.

"Have you thought about coming over?" I asked. She gave a loud irritated sigh, in reply.

"If I say yes, will you quit following me around?"

I pretended to give it some serious thought before nodding. "Yes."

"Fine" she said.

"Fine? Me? Why thank you for noticing but I'm still waiting for an answer- will you come over?" I asked trying not to laugh at the look of annoyance and disgust on her face.

"I said fine- yes I will, now will you leave me alone?" she bit out at me.

Bullshit. She wasn't that easy. Something was up. "When?"

"Tonight. I'll come over tonight."

I stopped stunned. She was definitely up to something and I hadn't anticipated her going on the attack. "Sweet," I said, playing off my surprise. "See you then, Pidge."

She walked away not looking back once, completely unaffected by our conversation. She disappeared amongst the throng of other students making their own way to class.

Embry's red baseball cap came into view, over the other students, both being over 6' 5" made it easy to spot each other in crowds like now. Em was in no hurry whatsoever to get to our next class. As I remembered what it was, my eyebrows scrunched together. I hated computer class. Who the fuck doesn't know how to work a fucking computer anymore? Like seriously?

I joined Embry and Leah as they integrated themselves into the surge of students on the main walkway. I looked at Lee, as she laughed and giggled at everything Em said to me, all the while with stars in her eyes. Leah was no vulture. She was smoking hot, and not only could she actually speak in whole sentences without saying 'like' after every word, but she could hold an intelligent conversation and she was pretty funny at times. What I liked the most about Lee, was that she refused to come to the apartment for several weeks after their first date, and even when she did so far, all they had done was watch a movie snuggled up, before she went back to her dorm room.

I had a feeling his probationary period before Em could bag her was about to end, though.

"Hey, Lee," I said, nodding.

"Hey how's it going, Jake?" she asked. She acknowledged me with a friendly smile, but her eyes flew right back to Em.

He was one of the lucky dudes. Girls like Lee didn't come along very often. "This is me," Leah said, gesturing to a building just around the corner, she wrapped her arms around Em's neck and kissed him, long and hard. He grabbed her shirt on both sides and pulled her closer to her before letting her go.

Leah gave a giggle, and waved one last time at both of us, before she skipped over to her friend Seth, at the front entrance, glancing back once more to flash a wide happy smile at Em.

I looked at Em's goofy expression, and slapped him on the back. "You're falling for her, aren't you?" I asked, before punching him in the arm.

He shoved me, "None of your business, dick," before laughing and began walking towards the parking lot.

"Does she have a sister?" I called after him.

"She's an only child and leave her friends alone, too, Jake, I mean it."

Em's last three words were unnecessary. His eyes were a giant billboard advertising his emotions and thoughts most of the time, and I could see he was absolutely serious—maybe even a little anxious. It dawned on me, Em wasn't just falling for her. He was in love. Already.

"You mean Bella."

He turned and frowned at me, his face screwed up irritated. "NO I mean any of her friends. Even Seth. Just please don't go there okay? Just stay away."

"Cousin!" I said, as I hooked my elbow around his neck, snagging his head into my chest as I ruffled his hair through his crap "Are you in love? You're making me all teary!" I squealed in a girly high pitched voice.

"Shut up," Embry grumbled. "Just promise me you'll leave her friends alone."

I grinned as I let him go. "I promise nothing."


	7. Chapter 2 ABD Bella's story

**A Beautiful Disaster**

_**Bella's story**_

Chapter Two

_**Impressions**_

Four hours later, Leah knocked on my door to take me to Embry and Jacob's and as normal she didn't hold back what she was thinking when I walked out into the hall. Two of the things I loved most about Leah was her fierce loyalty, and her frank honesty.

"Fucking hell! Bella you look disgusting! No actually you look worse than disgusting you look like... Like… Well like you're homeless!"

"Good," I said, smiling broadly at her and looking down at my choice of outfit. Her reaction was just what I wanted. I knew my plan was going to work now. I had piled my hair on top of my head in an extremely messy bun, a bird's nest looked tidier than my hair at the moment hell, I don't even think the most desperate of birds' would want my hair in the state it was in. I had then scrubbed all traces of makeup off my face and was now wearing my fake rectangular black rimmed glasses that I had used last year for my Halloween costume as a librarian. Sporting an oversized tatty t-shirt I had stole from Seth ages ago and baggy sweatpants. I had then finished my outfit off with a pair of flip flops. My brilliant idea had come to me hours before that either way, unattractive was the best plan. Ideally, Jacob would be instantly turned off and stop this ridiculous persistence and if he was looking for just a buddy, I was aiming to look way too dodgy to be seen with.

Leah rolled down her window to spit out her gum. "You're so fucking obvious Bella. Why didn't you just roll in some dog shit to make sure he definitely doesn't come anywhere near you?"

"I'm not trying to impress anyone," I said.

"Obviously." She quipped before shaking her head and starting the car.

We pulled into the parking lot of the boys' apartment complex, and I followed Leah to the stairs. Embry opened the door, and nearly passed out he was laughing so hard when he saw me walk in. "What the hell happened to you?"

"She's trying to be unimpressive," Leah said.

Leah followed Embry into his room and they closed the door, while I stood wringing my hands, suddenly feeling very alone and out of place. I debated knocking on Embry's door and asking Leah for the keys but decided I wasn't that much of a wimp, and opted to sit in the recliner closest to the door, kicking off my flip flops, I wiggled around to get comfortable. Their apartment was much more aesthetically pleasing than I expected, however it still looked like the typical bachelor pad. The predictable posters of half naked women, cars, motorbikes as well as some stolen street signs were on the walls, but it was clean, the furniture was new, and the smell of stale beer, smoke and dirty clothes were all noticeably absent.

"It's about time you showed up," Jacob said, as he collapsed onto the couch opposite me.

I smiled and made a show of pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose, waiting for him to recoil in horror at my appearance.

"Leah had a paper she had to finish." I replied.

"Speaking of papers, have you started the one for history, yet?" He asked straight faced, looking at me like he was actually interested in my reply. I only just managed to stop my jaw from flying open.

He hadn't even batted an eye at my messy hair, my clothes, my bare face or my glasses. I frowned at his reaction. "Have you?"

"I finished it this afternoon."

"It's not due until next Wednesday," I said, surprised.

He shrugged, "I just banged it out. It's not exactly hard to write a two page essay on Grant, is it?"

"I guess I'm either lazy or a procrastinator," I shrugged, trying to appear like I didn't care, when inside I was mortified!

"I'll probably won't start on it until this weekend." I added.

"Well, if you need any help just let me know."

I looked up at him and waited for him to laugh, or for his face to break into a devious smile, or show some sign that he was joking, but his expression remained sincere. Arching an eyebrow at him "You're going to help _me _with my paper?" I asked in disbelief.

"I have an A in that class," he said, a bit miffed at my apparent shock at his offer.

"He has A's in all his classes. He's a freakin' genius. I hate him," Embry said as he led Leah into the living room by the hand.

I looked at Jacob with a dubious expression and his eyebrows shot up. "What?" He asked looking slightly mad at my shocked expression "You think 'cause I'm covered in tattoos and I trade punches for a living I must be stupid and can't get good grades? I'm not in college because I have nothing better to do." He exclaimed hotly.

"Why do you have to fight at all, then?" I asked confused. "Why didn't you try for scholarships?" I added.

Jacob looked at me so intently I felt my eyes drop in to my lap in submission, "I did. I was awarded half my tuition. But there are still other costs to cover; like books, living expenses, and I have to find the other half somehow. I'm serious, Pidge. If you need

help with anything, just ask."

"I don't need your help. I can write a paper." I replied smartly. I wanted to leave it at that. I should have left it at that, but this new side of him that he had revealed was slowly eroding away at my curiosity. "You can't find something else to do for a living?

Less—I don't know—monstrous? Barbaric?" Jacob shrugged. "It's an easy way to make money. I can't make that much working at Mcdonald's or in a mall Pidge."

"I wouldn't say getting punched in the face is easy."

"Awww, are you worried about me?" he asked as he winked at me. I made a disgusted face which made him chuckle. "I don't get hit that often. They swing, I move. Simple really."

I gave a short sarcastic laugh. "You act like no one else has ever come to that conclusion before."

"Look, when I throw a punch they take it and then they try to hit me back. That way is never gonna win a fight."

I rolled my eyes in response. "Who do you think you are...the Karate Kid?" I scoffed at him "Where did you learn to fight?" Embry and Leah glanced at each other, and then their eyes wandered to the floor. It didn't take me too long to realize I had said something wrong.

Jacob didn't seem affected. "Well having a dad that had a drinking problem and a bad temper, as well as four older brothers who all carried the asshole gene, kinda meant I had to either learn or be a punching bag." He replied matter of factly.

"Oh." My ears burned with shame.

"Don't be embarrassed, Pidge. My dad quit drinking, and my brothers grew up."

"I'm not embarrassed." I lied as I began to nervously fidget with the falling strands of my hair before deciding to pull it down and start a new bun, while I tried desperately to ignore the awkward silence.

"I like this au natural thing you have going on. Girls don't ever come over here like that."

"I was forced to come here. It didn't occur to me that I should be trying to impress you," I said, annoyed my plan had failed.

He smiled his boyish, amused grin that made his whole face light up which only made me turn my anger up a notch, hoping it would cover how uneasy I felt. I didn't know how most girls felt around him, but I could imagine, especially since I had witnessed with my own eyes today how they behaved around him. But this wasn't the typical giggling, girly infatuation I expected they felt... Instead it felt more like a disoriented, sick to my stomach, dizzy type of feeling, and the harder he worked to make me smile, the more unsettled I felt.

"I'm already very impressed! I have never had to beg a girl to come to my apartment before." "Ha, I bet." Was my clever response to that statement as I kicked myself inwardly, but outwardly screwed my face up in disgust. It was then I fully realized that Jacob was the worst kind of confident. Not only was he fully aware of his appeal he also was unashamedly pleased by it! He was also used to women throwing themselves at him that he found my cool, aloof attitude towards him refreshing, instead of feeling insulted as I had hoped. With chagrin I realized my plan had backfired and that I was going to have to change my strategy and up my game.

Leah pointed the remote at the television and switched it on. "There's a good movie on tonight. Anyone wanna watch 'How to lose a guy in ten days'? Bella?" We all looked at Leah; Jake with an untroubled smirk on his face, surprise on mine and Embry just looked at her while he caught flies with his mouth. Not one of us answered her and she continued to look at the screen, with a smirk itching its way out while she fought to keep her face neutral.

Jake stood up. "I was just heading out for dinner. You hungry, Pidge?"

"I ate," I shrugged.

"No you haven't," Leah looked at me with concern before she realized all too late her mistake. "Oh...er...that's right, I forgot you grabbed a...erm an... Erm a pizza? Before we left."

I cringed at her shockingly awful attempt to fix her mistake, and waited for Jacob's reaction.

He walked across the room and opened the door. "C'mon. You've gotta be hungry." He called as he waited, ignoring Leah altogether, as she sat mouthing _I'm so sorry _over and over at me.

"Where are you going?" I asked, resigned I wasn't going to get out of it that easily.

"Wherever you want. A pizza place?" He said picking the one thing he knew I couldn't say I didn't like thanks to Leah's big mouth, although I knew even if I said I didn't want pizza he would just keep picking something else.

I looked down at my clothes, suddenly regretting my homeless look.

"I'm not dressed to go out." Maybe _this _could be my excuse.

He looked me over for a minute and then gave me a massive mischievous smile. "You look fine. Let's go, I'm starvin' Marvin over here."

I stood up and gave Leah a long meaningful look, and walked passed Jacob, into the corridor and down the stairs, as I did, I heard Jake tell Leah something about the film's ending, but I didn't hear what, except the snippet "in the end, just wait!" I walked out into the parking lot and waited, Jacob strolled past me and straddled a matte black motorcycle, I looked up with a look of horror on my face as I realized he was waiting for me. "Uh..." I trailed off, scrunching and unscrunching my exposed toes.

He raised an eyebrow at me in question, but when I still didn't move he gave me an impatient glare. "Jeez hurry up woman and get on. I'll go slow. Okay?"

"What is it?" I asked, before seeing all too late the writing on the gas tank.

"It's a Harley Night Rod. She _IS _the love of my life, so do not scratch the paint when you finally get on."

"I'm wearing flip flops!" I exclaimed, folding my arms across me.

Jacob stared at me as if I'd spoken to him in a completely foreign language. "And I am wearing boots" he said pointing at his feet.

"Now get on." He put on his sunglasses, and flicked his wrist slightly making the engine snarl as he brought it to life. I climbed on and reached behind me for something to grab on to, but my fingers slipped from leather to the plastic cover of the taillight, as I looked behind me.

Jacob grabbed my wrists and wrapped them around his middle, pulling on them slightly so I slid forward a little more as he spoke

"There's nothing to hold on to except me, Pidge." He paused as he gave my hands a soft pat, "don't let go," he said, as he pushed the bike backward with his feet. With another flick of his wrist, he pulled onto the street, and took off like a rocket. The pieces of my hair which had fallen loose whipped around my face, and I ducked behind Jacob, knowing I would end up with half of Washington's bugs smeared across my glasses if I looked over his shoulder.

I was regretting that part of my outfit as well now, even though I was pretty positive if I did look over his shoulders or even opened my eyes I would be wearing my lunch. He gunned the throttle once more as we pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant, and once he had slowed to a stop, I wasted no time jumping off the beast of a machine and scrambling to the safety of the concrete. "You lunatic!" I yelled at him, as soon as both my feet met the pavement.

Jacob looked up at me and gave a deep chuckle as he leaned his bike onto it's kickstand.

"What? I did the speed limit!" He exclaimed innocently.

"If we were on the Autobahn* maybe!" I hissed, as I pulled out my bun, attempting to try and separate the rat tails that my hair was, with my fingers.

He watched me pull hair away from my face, before coughing and climbing off the bike. He then walked to the door, holding it open. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Pigeon." He said solemnly.

I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster before storming past him into the restaurant, my head not quite in sync with my feet or my stomach which seemed to be the leading organ. I stopped inside the door unsure where to go. Grease and herbs and loud chatter filled the air as I followed him across the black, breadcrumb speckled flooring. He chose the booth in the farthest corner, cocooned away from the tables of students and families, and then ordered two beers.

"I don't drink beer, and if they are both for you, you can forget about me getting back on that monster with you! Not that I am sure I will anyway! I think I'll call Leah for a ride."

He looked at me with the look I was beginning to realize was one he wore a lot around me. He always looked surprised but amused at everything I said or did. I was beginning to feel like some kind of circus animal in a social experiment.

He gave a chuckle, "Leah will be busy trust me!" He gave a knowing smirk and winked at me as I groaned.

"Soda?"

I merely nodded. I scanned the restaurant, watching the parents attempting to coax their loud, hyper children to eat, and saw several UDub students looking this way, I looked away and down at the table. Last thing I wanted was for the inquisitive lookers to see it was me, sitting here with Jacob.

"Sure, Jacob," the waitress purred at him in a sultry tone, writing down our drink orders. She looked a bit intoxicated by his presence as she returned to the kitchen.

I attempted to tuck my windblown hair behind my ears, suddenly embarrassed by my appearance. "Come here a lot?" I asked sharply trying to keep the bitterness I felt out of my tone.

Jacob ignored my question. Instead he placed his elbows on the table and leaned over, his honey brown eyes piercing mine.

"So what's your story, Pidge? Are you a man‐hater in general, or do you just hate me?"

"I think it's just you," I grumbled.

He laughed once, amused at my mood. "I can't figure you out at all. You're the first girl literally the first girl that has ever been disgusted with me before sex. You don't get all flustered when you talk to me, and you don't try to get my attention. I have never met a girl like you before."

"It's not a ploy. I just don't like you."

"Ah, but you wouldn't be here if you didn't like me."

The frown I had been wearing most of the day around him involuntarily smoothed out and I sighed. "Look I didn't say you were an awful person or even a bad guy. I just don't like being treated like a foregone conclusion just because...Look just because I'm a girl and I have a ...a… a vagina doesn't mean I want to sleep with you." I was so focused on the grains of salt on the table that I jumped when I heard a choking noise coming from Jacob.

My head snapped up to see his eyes had widened and he was literally shaking with silent laughter that gave way to a loud howling noise. "Oh my God! You. Are. Killing. me! That's it. We have to be friends. I won't take no for an answer." He barked out as he tried to stop laughing, he was now holding his stomach like he was going to break in two at any moment.

My eyebrow subconsciously arched at his behavior and at what he had said before I replied in my most serious tone "I don't have a problem with being friends with you, I just don't want you thinking that means you have to try getting in my panties every five seconds."

When he finally stopped howling with laughter, he replied "I get it! You're not going to sleep with me."

I tried not to smile, but failed.

His eyes brightened, as he saw the flicker of the smile I was trying to hide. "You have my word. I won't even think about your panties...unless you want me to."

I rested my elbows on the table and leaned into them, mirroring his action from earlier. "And I can promise you that won't ever happen, so we can be friends."

An impish grin spread across his beautiful features as he leaned in a bit closer. "Never say never Pidge, never say never."

"So what's your story?" I asked. "Have you always been Jacob "The Hazard" Black, or is that just something since you started fighting?" I used my fingers to air quote his nickname, and for the first time I saw his confidence wane slightly and he actually looked a little embarrassed.

"No. Garrett was the mastermind behind that."

"Why or how come, should I say?"

"He decided after my first fight I needed a stage name, everyone else seemed to like it, so he kept using it."

His short answers were beginning to irritate me. "That's it? You're not going to tell me anything about yourself?" I snapped.

"What do you want to know?"

"The normal stuff. Where you're from, what you want to be when you grow up...things like that."

"I'm from around here, born and raised, well sort of. I'm Quileute like Embry, and we grew up on the rez" seeing my expression he elaborated further "eh… a small reservation I mean, near Forks. It's called La Push. Most of my family still lives there as does Em's folks, and I'm a criminal justice major."

With a sigh, he unrolled his napkin and took out his silverware and straightened them beside his plate. He gave a quick look over his shoulder, and I saw his jaw clench slightly. Two tables seating the UDub soccer team erupted in laughter, when they saw us looking, and Jacob seemed to be annoyed at something.

"You're joking," I said in disbelief.

"No, I'm a local," he said, distracted.

"I'm talking about your major. You don't look like the criminal justice type."

This comment pulled him back into our conversation and away from whatever had annoyed him. His eyebrows bunched together.

"Why?"

I pointedly looked at the tattoos covering his arms. "Well I would say that you look more criminal than you do justice."

"Hey, I'll have you know I don't get in any trouble...for the most part. Dad was pretty strict, and still is really."

"Where was your mom?"

"She died when I was a kid," he said as a matter of fact.

"Oh wow, I'm...I'm sorry," I stuttered, shaking my head. His answer had caught me off guard, and hadn't been what I expected at all.

He dismissed my sympathy. "I don't remember her. I was just three when she died."

"Four brothers, wow! How on earth did you keep them straight?" I teased trying to lighten the mood, and get over my unease at the turn the conversation had taken.

He gave me a serious look, "By who hit the hardest, which also happened to be oldest to youngest; Sam, the twins, and then Paul. I learned early on that you never, ever wanted to get caught alone in a room with Quil and Jared. I learned half of what I do in 'The Circle' from my brothers. Other than me, Paul was the smallest, there isn't much in age between us but he's fast. He's the only one that can land a punch on me now."

I shook my head, dumbfounded at the thought of five Jacobs running around in one household. "Do they all have tattoos?"

"Pretty much. Paul works at a shop these days. We all have them. Except Sam. Well not that I've seen him with any. He's an ad exec in California."

"And your dad? Where's he?"

"Around, works for the tribal council on the rez, and he makes stuff" he shrugged. His jaws were clenching and unclenching furiously again, he seemed to becoming increasingly irritated with the soccer team.

I couldn't help but feel like they were laughing at me, "What are they laughing about?" I asked, gesturing to their rowdy table. He quickly shook his head, not wanting to share. I crossed my arms and wriggled in my seat, my heart had began thumping loudly in my chest as nervousness took hold, whatever they were saying had caused him to become very aggravated. "Tell me." He shook his head again.

"Jacob, tell me" he looked pain as I asked again, adding "please", when I saw his expression.

"They're laughing about me. Well us, that I had to take you to dinner, first. Because it's not usually how I…. It's not...my thing."

"First?" I asked, confused. When understanding settled on my face, Jacob winced at my expression. I spoke before I thought, as per normal. "Ha, and to think I was afraid they were laughing about you being seen with me dressed like this," I waved my hand up and down my body, "and instead this whole time they've been laughing because they think I'm going to sleep with you," I grumbled.

A look of what I thought was pain flashed across his face, but like before it disappeared making me wonder if I had imagined it.

"Why wouldn't I be seen with you?" Jacob asked, looking mystified.

"What were we talking about?" I asked, trying to fight off the heat rising under my skin.

"You. What's your major?" he asked, allowing me to change the subject.

"Oh, er...erm… general ed, for now. I still haven't a clue what I want to do when I grow up," He smiled at my attempt at a joke, "but I'm leaning toward Accounting" I finished. "You're not a local, though. You must be a Transplant."

"A what?"

"Ya'no Outsider? A Transplant? Erm a transfer?"

I arched my eyebrow at him, making him chuckle, "'Transplant'? Is that what you", Jacob interrupted me before I even managed to finish my question.

"Yep, so where are you from?"

"Oh right, yeah Wichita. Same as Leah."

"How did you end up here from Kansas?"

"We had to get away."

"From?"

"This and that you know the normal", I replied dismissively.

"Like?" He probed further.

I sighed, knowing he wasn't going to let me off giving him an answer.

Looking at my hands, as I wring them in my lap, "Parents mainly."

"Oh. What about Leah? Does she have parent issues, too?"

"No, Harry and Sue are great. They practically raised me. She sort of tagged along; she didn't want me to come alone."

Jacob nodded. "So, why UDub?"

"What's with the third degree?" I said. His questions had begun to drift from small talk to much more personal, and I was beginning to get extremely uncomfortable.

A horrible squeaking sound, alerted us that the soccer team were leaving, just as several chairs were knocked together as their large frames left their seats. They traded one last joke before they strolled casually toward the door, laughing rowdily, however their pace quickened when Jacob stood up. Those in the back of the group pushed those in front to escape before Jacob made

his way across the room. He sat down irately.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You were going to say why you chose UDub," he prompted. Seeing this as his way to try and distract himself, I gave him an answer, in the hope it would help ease his frustration and anger away.

"It's hard to explain," I said, shrugging once again, and looking up at him from under my lashes. "I guess it felt right." He gave me a dazzling smile as he passed me a menu and opened his own. "I know what you mean."

a/n: Autobahn are motorways in Germany which have no federally mandated speed limits.


	8. chapter 2 AWD Jacob's story

**A Walking Disaster****_ - Jake's story_**

Chapter Two

_Backfire _

"Eh... what are _you_ doing Jake?" Embry asked from where he stood in the center of the apartment, holding a pair of sneakers in one hand, and a dirty pair of underwear in the other, all the while wearing a confused expression on his face.

"Erm well I'm not sure but I think it's called cleaning and tidying up?" I replied sarcastically as I put three more shot glasses into the dishwasher.

"I know what it's called asshole!. It's normally me that does it you Dick! I meant why? Why are you doing it?! Why now?! What's going on?" He asked still perplexed and now suspicious.

I gave him a bright dazzling smile as I turned my back on him. I hadn't told him yet and I knew he was going to either literally have a breakdown or attempt to kick my ass. "I'm expecting company."

"Right and?" I understood his confusion- even when I was expecting company-normally a girl or two- I still didn't bother to clean. I didn't see the point, they weren't going to be here long enough to look around once we were finished. Embry however was like a little maid whenever he expected Leah over, and even when he didn't. I wasn't messy, or unclean or even untidy- I was just a firm believer that life was too short and there were far more important things to do then check for dust every five minutes.

"It's the Pigeon."

"Huh?"

"Bella, Em. I invited Bella over and she agreed." I waited for the explosion, the melt down or a fist to fly at me.

"Bella?" He shrieked higher than anyone with balls should be able to reach, I was sure.

"What the Hell Jake! No Dude. No! You promised you wouldn't fuck this up for me, come on man. Please. Don't do this. Not to Bella. Not to me. Please."

I turned, crossed my arms across my chest, and leaned against the dishwasher, as I looked at Embry; my best friend, cousin, roommate and basically my fifth brother... "I tried, Em. I did. But, I don't know. There's something about her Em, I can't help it." I shrugged.

I was watching Em's face for his reaction, I was good at reading people's expressions especially Em's. Years of practice meant we knew how to read each other well and it had helped us out many times before. I saw his jaw begin to work under his skin, saw his lips slam into a hard line as he clenched his jaw together tightly before he threw me a nasty glare and stomped into his room, slamming the door shut hard behind him.

I finished loading the dishwasher, gave the kitchen a quick once over before circling the lounge area paying special attention to the couch to make sure there wasn't any missed visible condom wrappers. I had learned pretty quickly that was something which wasn't fun to explain... Even to the hoes who didn't give a crap normally.

It was a well known fact that I had bagged a good portion of beautiful girls from the college alone, however I didn't see any reason to remind them of that when they came here. It was all about making them feel like they were the only one special enough to come to the apartment.

Pigeon. Her face popped into my head. I knew it was going to take far more than a few false advertisements and a tidy apartment to get her on my couch. She wasn't anything even remotely like all the other girls. At this point my only strategy was to try and stay one step ahead of her and to take tiny baby steps at that. If I solely focused on the end result or let it distract me I would easily fuck this up. Bella was different, she paid attention, she was quiet and observant, I had noticed. She liked to blend in so she could see everything that was going on around her. I had a feeling she was much less naive then she pretended to be, in fact I was closer to naive then she was. She was miles ahead of me and hell that was saying something. This operation was going to be the biggest of my life so far.

After checking the apartment I went to tidy my bedroom. I'd busied myself sorting laundry, when I heard the front door open. Embry usually listened out for Leah's car so he could be at the door to greet her. Like the whipped pussy he was.

I heard the distinct murmurs and Em bursting his guts laughing at something and then Embry's door closing. That was my signal. I strolled down the hallway and turned into the open planned area of the apartment to see her sat on the recliner: thick black glasses, hair piled high and messily on the top of her head, and what could very well have been some old pajamas. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if she had found them molding at the very bottom of her laundry pile... Or in a charity bin on the way here.

It took everything in me not to burst into laughter. Now I knew what had Embry pissing himself with laughter at the front door. Never ever had a female come to my apartment dressed anything like this, not even Leah and she was pretty comfortable with Embry and being here. Our front door had seen mini skirts, hot pants, dresses, and even a see-through dress over a teeny bikini. It had also seen make up painted on, or caked on and even some kind of glitter lotion stuff. But never ever pajamas.

Upon seeing her I immediately realized why she had agreed so easily to come over. She was clearly trying to repulse me enough that I'd leave her alone. However it may have worked had she not looked absolutely stunning and unbelievably sexy. Her skin free of makeup was flawless, and combined with the dark frames of her glasses made her stunning brown eyes dazzle even more, besides I've always had a thing about serious librarian types and just the thought of her dressed like that made my cock instantly rock hard.

"It's about time you showed up," I said, falling onto the couch.

She gave a big smile, which lit up her whole face as I looked over at her. She was waiting for my disgusted reaction at her appearance. However the more we talked, the more her face began to show signs of frustration and annoyance. She knew her plan had failed. The less she smiled and more annoyed she looked the harder I found it to keep my face completely neutral and not let the shit eating grin spread over my face. I was having so much fun. She was so much fun. I just couldn't get over it.

Embry and Leah came out of Em's room ten minutes later, and joined us. By now Bella was getting flustered, and I was nearly damn light-headed. I'd just offered to help her with a paper when Embry joined in our conversation, telling Bella how much he hated the fact I always scored good grades, much to Bella's disbelief. However this made her question my need to fight... Or if I took some barbaric thrill from it. I was quickly realizing I kind of liked talking to her especially about everyday normal stuff. It definitely beat the awkward task of trying to ask her to leave once I had bagged her, on the couch. I knew she didn't get me, and I wasn't sure if that fact annoyed her, or if she didn't care, I however knew I wanted her to understand me, even though I knew I pissed her off something chronic.

"What are you, the Karate Kid? Where did you learn to fight?" She scoffed at me, her face twisted in a sarcastic smirk. Embry and Leah glanced at each other, and then their eyes wandered to the floor. "Well having a dad that had a drinking problem and a bad temper, as well as four older brothers who all carried the asshole gene, kinda meant i had to either learn or be a punching bag." I replied matter of factly, however it didn't take long before she seemed to pick up on the awkward silence from Leah and Embry and a slight red flush began to creep up her neck and rise over her face. At the moment I felt something flare deep inside my chest- and I hated it. I hated the fact she was now uncomfortable because of me. I didn't want to lie to her, but nor did I want her pity..

"Oh" was her simple reply, and the tinge spread up to her ears.

"Don't be embarrassed, Pidge. My Dad quit drinking, and my brothers grew up."

Embry and Leah glanced at each other again and seemed to be embarrassed for her. I had no idea why; I honestly didn't care. I didn't talk about my childhood much, however that didn't mean I was ashamed of it.

"I'm not embarrassed." She said as she fidgeted around uneasily, I could tell she was lying even before her face blushed a deep crimson. I was struggling to think of a way to quickly take us away from this uncomfortable lull when she began fiddling with her hair. Her sexy, frumpy look was seriously making my cock hard even more as she pulled her long hair out of the bird's nest on the top of her head, making her mass of mahogony hair cascade around her, and over the back of the recliner, framing her petite face. I decided to turn her embarrassment into irritation, something I was much more comfortable with.

Leah grabbed the remote for the TV, and made a sarcastic comment about a film to Bella - something about how to get rid of a guy in ten ways. I chuckled inwardly, she didn't stand a chance even if she took a 'how to lose Jacob Black 1-0-1' class. However I knew there was no way I could be in the same room as Bella and not be able to talk to her so I stood up, and pointedly looked at her "You hungry, Pidge?"

"I already ate." She replied a little too quickly.

Leah's eyebrows bunched together, in concern. "No, you haven't. Oh . . . er... that's right, I forgot you grabbed a... erm an... Erm a pizza? Before we left." Leah quickly added trying to rectify her mistake after Bella shot her a look of horror and then annoyance. I tried not to smirk at her reaction, or Leah's awful attempt to save her and Bella.

Bella was mortified, however her anger quickly covered it. I was beginning to learn her emotional pattern quickly. Something I liked. I wanted to know everything about her, I wanted to be able to read her, to know what she was thinking.

I opened the front door wide, and stepped aside, taking a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves so my voice would sound casual, when I finally spoke, "C'mon. You've gotta be hungry." I had never ever in my whole life been so eager to get a girl alone— and I wasn't even trying so I could have sex with her! Another first for me.

I watched her shoulders relax a little, "Where are you going?" she asked with a hint of defeat. It was then I knew she was close to giving in, I had to fight extremely hard to keep the happiness and excitement from erupting on to my face.

"Wherever you want. A pizza place?" I cringed inwardly, that sounded far too eager, but I needed her to agree, I needed her to come.

She glanced down at her sweatpants. "I'm not dressed to go out." She exclaimed regretfully before hope flickered in her eyes, you could almost see the light bulb flash above her head.

She had absolutely no idea how beautiful she truly was. It made her even more stunning, and me want her even more. "You look fine. Let's go, I'm starvin' Marvin over here."

Once I had her on the back of my Harley, I was able to finally think straight. Being on the bike had always given me the chance to think, clear my head, and was the only place I could think clearly and relax. Even with Bella wrapped around me, and her legs which had my hips in a vise grip, didn't take that feeling away, in fact having her so close to me, was actually more relaxing. It was almost a deep sense of relief, that seemed to wash through me as soon as I felt her limbs touch me.

I couldn't work out or fathom this strange sensation I felt whenever I was around her, it was completely new to me and extremely disorienting. I hated it. However it did remind me that she was nearby, so although it was unsettling, the reassurance it gave outweighed it. I needed to get my shit together and quickly! I was beginning to act like a girl! No I was beginning to act like Embry or one of my brothers or worse the dickheads at college. Bella may well be a pigeon, and one of those girls, my mother had told me about- but she was still a girl at the end of the day. She was just a fucking girl. There was no need for me to get all worked up and my boxers in a twist over a damn girl. I was Jacob fucking Black!

Besides, I knew under her fake good girl facade, she was hiding something. Something big, and I had a feeling I knew what it was. After all she had taken an instant dislike to me, I had a feeling she had even hated me before she had laid eyes on me, and there was only one reason she would feel that strongly- she had been burned by someone like me before. However I knew there was no way on earth she was a slut. Not even a reformed one. I had a natural gift for spotting those types of girls and I could spot them a mile away. As this epiphany struck me my poker face slipped slowly away, as it dawned on me that I had finally met a girl that was feisty, stunningly beautiful and more importantly, interesting enough that I actually wanted to get to know her and not just bag her, and I was too late, a version of me had not only already hurt her, but burned her so badly she had closed herself off altogether.

The thought of some asshole hurting Pidge absolutely infuriated me, I could feel the blood rushing through me, adrenaline flooding my system, and a red fog mist my vision. But what cut me to the core, was that Bella associated me with someone that had hurt her so badly, killed me even worse. I must literally have a hazard warning flashing above my head, to her, the irony of which, wasn't lost on me. I gunned the throttle in anger as I pulled into the parking lot at the Pizza Barn. The ride hadn't been even remotely long enough to sort out the giant clusterfuck that were my thoughts.

I had been so busy thinking of Bella and so used to driving solo, on my bike, I hadn't given a single thought to the speed I was going until Bella jumped off the bike yelling her pretty little head about driving like a lunatic. Even angry she took my breathe away, but she looked so adorable in her sweats and shouting, that I couldn't help but laugh at her, which only made her worse.

"What? I did the speed limit!"

"If we were on the Autobahn* maybe!" she hissed angrily at me, and she ripped her hair out of the bird's nest it was in, on the top of her head, as she tried to run her fingers through it, in an attempt to calm it.

I was so transfixed on her, I couldn't have taken my eyes away from her even if I had tried. As she tried to re-do her hair the thought of how she must look first thing in the morning struck me and once again my cock stiffened to record proportions. The lack of blood going to my head and the mere sight of her haloed with the setting sun behind her, made me go light headed. I shook my head trying to clear it and gave a cough as I tried to think of something, anything else, in an attempt to make my cock calm down, before I could climb of the bike. Walking past her quickly, I reached for the door and held it open for her.

She had no idea at all, the power she had over me. Even after this short time, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I would do anything and everything in my power to make sure she was safe, protected, and happy already. But I wasn't going to let her know that, so I simply vowed "I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Pigeon."

She gave me the dirtiest look she could muster, however she merely looked like a kitten trying to be a lion, I smiled to myself as she angrily stomped past me and into the restaurant, ignoring me standing there like a schmuck, or my gesture of holding it open for her, which was a fucking shame; she was the first girl that I had ever wanted to open a door for, sure I did it for other girls, other people- but that's because we were brought up to remember our manners. Yet here was a girl I actually wanted to try and be a gentleman for, hell I'd actually been looking forward to that moment, and she didn't even notice. Just fucking typical.

I followed her inside, as she suddenly stopped after streaming in, unsure. I walked past her and headed for the corner booth I usually used. I'd noticed the soccer team as soon as I walked through the door, they were hard to miss since they had pushed several tables together in the middle of the room, and were being generally rowdy as normal. However as soon as they saw me walk in with a 'date' they began howling with laughter, and making comments. I gritted my teeth, and cringed at the same time. The last thing I wanted was for Bella to hear.

For the first time ever, I was embarrassed about my behavior. However it didn't last long, as soon as I saw Bella slide into the booth opposite me still pissed off and cranky, I didn't give two shits about anything at all. A massive smile plastered itself across my face. Nothing was going to ruin this moment for me.

Without thinking I ordered two beers, but the look of disgust that Bella shot me caught me off guard, before she began another rant at my expense. "I don't drink beer, and if they are both for you, you can forget about me getting back on that monster with you! Not that I am sure I will anyway! I think I'll call Leah for a ride." I laughed knowing full well that Leah and Embry would be busy. I gave her a wink just to further make my point, before I checked she would drink a soda- she didn't look like one of those girls who only drank water and didn't eat, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to double check in case I did something else wrong.

The waitress blatantly tried flirting with me, which also seemed to annoy Bella. It would seem I could piss her off without even trying.

"Come here a lot?" she snapped, while glaring at the waitress's retreating back.

Was she jealous? Hell, yeah. She was jealous. Or maybe she wasn't? Maybe the way I was treated by women was a turnoff. Oh shit. That wouldn't surprise me, either. I literally couldn't tell with this girl, she was literally the one girl- I couldn't read, and she was making my head spin.

I leaned on the table with my elbows, I refused to let Bella see she was getting to me. "So what's your story, Pidge? Are you a man‐hater in general, or do you just hate me?"

"I think it's just you," She grumbled.

I had to laugh, she was still in a mood. "I can't figure you out at all. You're the first girl-literally- the first girl that has ever been disgusted with me before sex. You don't get all flustered when you talk to me, and you don't try to get my attention. I have never met a girl like you before." I told her truthfully, she looked at me, with those massive chocolate brown eyes, before her eyes flicked to the table as she spoke.

"It's not a ploy. I just don't like you." O-FUCKING-UCH! I swallowed quickly before I spoke, not trusting my voice straight away, not to give me away.

"Ah, but you wouldn't be here if you didn't like me."

Finally my persistence paid off as her scowl smoothed, and the skin around her eyes relaxed slightly, and she gave a small whisper of a sigh.

She was staring intently at the table as she spoke again. "Look I didn't say you were an awful person or even a bad guy. I just don't like being treated like a foregone conclusion just because...Look just because I'm a girl and I have a ...a… a vagina doesn't mean I want to sleep with you."

Whatever I had expected her to say it wasn't that. Suddenly whatever spell she had over me, took complete control of me. I couldn't control it or contain it.

I tried to hold it back and choke back my laughter but it was useless, and I burst out laughing. As a concoction of emotions floored me. She didn't hate me or think I was an asshole after all; she just didn't like how I had approached her. Well that was easily fixed. the sense of relief which washed over me made my muscles relax, and made me laugh harder than I'd laughed in years. Maybe ever. I was literally high, and it was because of her. I was literally high on her.

"Oh my God! You. Are. Killing. me! That's it. We have to be friends. I won't take no for an answer."

She arched an eyebrow at me before answering in what she must of thought was her serious tone, "I don't have a problem with being friends with you I just don't want you thinking that means you have to try getting in my panties every five seconds."

"I get it! You're not going to sleep with me."

That was when she smiled, she actually smiled. At me. It was as her face stretched with her smile and she looked at me, from under her lashes, my whole world fell on it's side. In that one moment, a whole new world opened up to me. Possibilities and different future scenarios flashed through my brain, as a montage of explicit 'Pigeon' porn channels flickered through my mind but just before I could get excited- my mind crashed, and some fucked up advertisement appeared preaching about nobility and warning not to screw up this chance to be friends with her. As much as my dick and my brain both wanted to fight it, whatever this thing was, because something, somewhere deep down in me was fighting hard for this chance, for this weird friendship we'd just begun.

I gave her a dazzling smile, that I knew lit up my whole face in return. "You have my word. I won't even think about your panties...unless you want me to."

She leant forward and copied my position, and rested her elbows on the table and leaned onto her hands. Which pushed her breasts together and pressed them against the table, and even though I couldn't actually see a glimpse of them just knowing they were there, made my eyes go straight to her tits.

"And I can promise you that won't ever happen, so we can be friends."

Challenge accepted. Oh yeah! Damn right I was going to accept this challenge, not only was I going to accept it I was going to whoop it's fucking ass!

"Never say never Pidge, never say never." I said, as I gave her a cheeky smile and leaned in closer to her.

"So what's your story?" Bella asked, trying to change the subject. "Have you always been Jacob "The Hazard" Black, or is that just something since you started fighting?" She used her two fingers on both of her hands to mimic quote marks as she said that god awful fucking nickname.

I cringed, I actually fucking cringed.

"No. Garrett was the mastermind behind that."

"Why or how come, should I say?"

"He decided after my first fight I needed a stage name, everyone else seemed to like it, so he kept using it." I fucking hated that name, but it had unfortunately stuck.

There was an awkward silence, before Bella spoke again, "That's it? You're not going to tell me anything about yourself?" She snapped.

Bella either didn't seem to mind the nickname, or else she accepted the backstory, and thankfully I didn't need to go into anymore details, that would have been god damn awful. This girl was absolutely god damn unpredictable; I never knew when she was going to get offended and freak out, or when she would be rational and stay cool. Holy hell, I just couldn't get enough of it.

"What do you want to know?"

"The normal stuff. Where you're from, what you want to be when you grow up...things like that."

"I'm from around here, born and raised, well sort of. I'm Quileute like Embry, and we grew up on the rez", as her brows furrowed in confusion, I realised I was talking to someone who didn't already know everything about me, and I wanted her to know, and to understand me; "Er a small reservation I mean, near Forks. It's called La Push. Most of my family still lives there as does Em's folks, and I'm a criminal justice major."

I was completely and utterly out of my comfort zone and struggling to keep the tension out of my shoulders. Talking about myself—especially my past—was something I hated doing and something I didn't do if I could absolutely help it. I gave some vague answers and left it at that, until I heard one of the soccer players make a joke. Normally it wouldn't have even appeared on my radar as something that would bother me except it did bother me because it involved Bella but I knew it also bothered me more because I was dreading the moment Bella realized we were the reason they were laughing so loudly. Okay, that was a lie. A major lie. It would have pissed me off whether she was here or not. But because she was here- it really had flicked my pissed off meter.

She was oblivious thankfully, and kept up a steady stream of questions about my family and my major, all the while I was trying to not jump out of my seat and literally take them all out in a one-man killing spree. My anger was at boiling point, and focusing on our conversation became extremely difficult.

"What are they laughing about?" she asked, gesturing to the rowdy table. I quickly shook my head, not wanting to share.

"Tell me," she insisted.

I shook my head again.

"Jacob, tell me", she paused, and looked at me, whatever she saw on my face, had her adding "please" on to the end .

I pressed my lips together hard, into a thin line. If Bella walked out now, I would never get another chance with her, and then those fucking idiots would have something more to laugh about.

I was damned if I did, and I was damned if I didn't. I tried to weigh up the possible outcomes, while she waited and watched me expectantly. If I didn't tell her there was a really good chance she would storm out, however if I did tell her there was a small chance she wouldn't storm out- it was slim admittedly, but at least she knew I would be honest with her, I prayed that was enough to keep her here. As I looked at her, I knew there wasn't anything I could keep from her, when she gave me the look she was currently giving me.

Fuck it! "They're laughing about me. Well us, that I had to take you to dinner, first. Because it's not usually how I…. It's not...my thing."

"First?" she looked confused, then as the meaning slowly sunk in, she froze. Her expression went from confusion to mortification. That look, on her face as I realized she was absolutely mortified to be sitting here with me, was like a dagger through my heart.

I winced, and held my breath waiting for her reaction, waiting for the inevitable and she would storm out.

Her shoulders sagged, "Ha, and to think I was afraid they were laughing about you being seen with me dressed like this," she said in a quiet voice as she waved her hand up and down her body, "and instead this whole time they've been laughing because they think I'm going to sleep with you," she moaned, but much to my surprise she didn't move.

Eh? Huh? Wait! What? "Why wouldn't I be seen with you?"

Her cheeks flushed a deep pink, and she looked down at the table, uncomfortably. "What were we talking about?" she asked.

I sighed outwardly. I had this all wrong. Bella was actually concerned about me, about my fucking reputation. I couldn't believe she actually thought that they were laughing about the way she looked. that she was worried what they would think of me, because of it. I had been wrong, the Pigeon wasn't a hard-ass, at all. I quickly decided to ask another question before she reconsidered staying and fled. The nickname Pigeon couldn't be more apt, not only did she fit it perfectly but I had quickly realized she was flighty and a possible flight risk, no puns intended.

"You. What's your major?"

"Oh, er...erm… general ed, for now. I still haven't a clue what I want to do when I grow up," She answered, I smiled at her joke, "but I'm leaning toward Accounting" she finished.

"You're not a local, though. You must be a Transplant." I stated.

"A what?"

"Ya'no Outsider? A Transplant? Transfer?"

"'Transplants'? Is that what you-", she started but I interrupted her trying to keep the conversation about her. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her and I couldn't find out quick enough.

"Oh right, yeah Wichita. Same as Leah."

"How did you end up here from Kansas?"

"We had to get away."

"From?"

"This and that you know the normal", she answered dismissively.

"Like?" Sensing this was a key piece of her history and why she had taken an instant dislike to me I probed further.

She sighed and looked at her hands, which she was manically wringing in her lap, "Parents mainly."

She was running. I knew it. I had known when I first saw her that the cardigan and pearls she wore were a disguise. But, what was she hiding? What was she running from? From who? She got annoyed extremely quickly when it was her turn to answer the personal questions, before I could change the subject, to something she was more comfortable with, even though I really wanted to find out the answers to my questions, I knew I was going to have to play this carefully, Riley from the soccer team started shooting his mouth off .

I nodded. "So, why UDub?"

She snapped at me but I missed whatever it was she had said, because the loud laughter and shithead comments the soccer team were spewing drowned her words out.

"Dude, someone needs to tell Black, he is supposed to get a doggie bag, not bag the doggie!"

That was the last straw, I couldn't hold the monster that was clawing the inside of me to escape back anymore. They weren't just being disrespectful to me, they were disrespecting Bella- I couldn't stand people disrespecting me, my friends, or my family- Britney had learned that only hours earlier in front of some of these jerks, but there was no way in Hell I was going to let them disrespect me AND Bella when she had done absolutely nothing to anyone- except be here with me. I stood up and took a few steps towards them, and suddenly they were shoving and pushing each other out of the way so they could get out of the door, tripping and stumbling over the other dozen different pairs of feet trying to do the same thing.

I could feel Bella's eyes penetrating the back of my head, burning a hole, but it was enough to bring me back to my senses, calm me down enough to sit myself back down in the booth. She arched an eyebrow at me in question, and immediately all of my anger melted away.

"You were going to say why you chose UDub," I said, trying to pretend that the little sideshow hadn't happened-figuring this was probably the best thing to do.

"It's hard to explain," she said, shrugging. "I guess it felt right."

If there was ever a phrase to explain the way I felt at that moment, it was that one. I didn't have a fucking clue what the hell was happening, or what I was doing or why, but something about sitting here, across from Bella Swan in this booth brought me a weird sense of calm, that I don't think I had ever experienced before and the fact it was in the middle of a rage made it even more so fucking unbelievably surreal and confusing.

I opened my menu, "I know what you mean." I said as I smiled at her, before pretending to study what was on the menu, all the while my head was going crazy.


	9. Chapter 3 ABD Bella's story

_**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**_

**A Beautiful Disaster - Bella's story**

Chapter Three

_**Pig**_

Familiar faces began to fill the seats of my favorite lunch table. Leah was sat on one side of me, and Seth on the other, Embry took the one next to Lee, and then slowly the rest of the chairs were picked off by his Sigma Tau brothers. It was hard to hear with the din inside the cafeteria, and the air conditioner seemed to be broken again, which given how cold it was outside, would normally be a blessing but as always inside the cafeteria the air was thick with the smells of food and the sweaty skin of far too many people being squashed into such a confined warm space. However today it didn't seem to phase or bother anyone and everyone seemed to be in very high spirits, more so than usual.

"Hey Emmett," Embry said, greeting the man sitting in front of me. His short curly brown hair just peeking out from under the white Eastern Football hat, which he had pulled down low on his forehead. The white over his dark brown chocolate eyes made them more intense, as they wrinkled in the corners as he greeted Embry with a wide smile.

"Alright man! Missed you after the game Saturday. But don't worry I drank a beer or six for ya," he said with a booming laugh, as he raised a fist for Em to bump.

Embry chuckled in response as he leaned down to kiss the top of Leah's ebony hair in greeting, "Thanks man! I appreciate it, we went out to dinner didn't we gorgeous?," he said, as Leah gave him a bright smile.

"That's my chair, Emmett." Came a deep husky voice. I knew instantly it belonged to Jacob even before I turned my head to look at him. Emmett looked behind him, to see Jacob stood there waiting. Emmett looked surprised as he glanced at me. "Oh, sorry Jake, I didn't realize she was one of your girls". My mouth popped open in surprise, before I gushed "No I am not!" I replied indignantly, "Absolutely not".

Emmett looked up at Jacob in confusion, as if I hadn't spoken and he was still waiting for Jake to give him an answer. Jake however just stared at him expectantly. Emmett gave me one last look, before he gave a shrug and picked his tray up and moved to the end of the table.

Jacob smiled widely at me as he threw one leg over the seat, before falling into the seat. I rolled my eyes at him "What's up, Pidge?", but his tray distracted me.

"What is that?" I asked, unable to take my eyes off his tray. Whatever it was, it didn't look edible at all, in fact it looked like a wax display.

Jacob gave a deep husky laugh and took a long pull from his water glass. "They-" he said pointing over his shoulder with his thumb in the direction of the cafeteria ladies, "scare me. There is no way in hell I'm about to critique their… erm… their unique cooking skills." He gave a tiny shudder to emphasize his point, before giving me a Jacob Black special smile at me again.

I didn't miss the judging eyes of those sitting around us at the table. Jacob's behavior had aroused their curiosity, and I hid the smile of satisfaction of being the only girl any of them had seen Jacob insist on sitting near.

"Ugh… we have our Bio test after lunch," Leah groaned. Whether she had just remembered or was subtly trying to steer any unwanted attention away from me, I wasn't sure, but I was grateful.

"Have you studied?" I asked.

"No. Instead I spent the whole evening trying to reassure my boyfriend that you weren't going to sleep with Jacob." I inwardly groaned, sometimes Leah could be so astute and know intrinsically when to save me, and other times, she could be as forgetful as the next person and drop me right back into the center of attention. Like she had just done. As the words left her mouth, a hush fell over the football players who were also seated at the end of our table. Their loud obnoxious laughter halted abruptly so they could listen more closely, which only made the other students take notice. I glared furiously at Leah, however she was either oblivious or unconcerned with taking any blame, and nudged Embry with her shoulder, in a comforting manner.

"Fuking 'ell, Em. You've got it that bad, huh?" Jacob asked, as he threw a packet of ketchup at his cousin. Embry didn't answer or acknowledge Jacob, but I was really appreciative that Jacob had managed to divert the attention away from us, and smiled at him gratefully.

Leah rubbed Em's back. "He's going to be okay. It's just going to take him awhile to believe Bella is resistant to your charms."

"I haven't tried to charm her," Jacob said with a hint of offense. "She's my friend."

I looked at Embry. "I told you Em, you honestly have nothing to worry about." As I spoke Embry slowly raised his eyes to meet mine, and when he saw my sincere expression, his eyes brightened.

"Have you studied?" Jacob asked me.

I frowned at him and shook my head, "Trust me no amount of studying is going to help me pass Biology. It's just not something I can wrap my head around."

Jacob pushed his tray away from him and stood up. "C'mon."

"What?"

"Let's go"

"What? Where? Why?" I asked dumbfounded.

"To get your notes. I'm going to help you study."

"Jacob..."

"Get your ass up, Pidge. I'm gonna make sure you ace that test." I rolled my eyes, but stood up as I had been ordered, not quite sure why I was moving. I gave one of Leah's long, black braids a tug as I passed. "Guess I'll see you in class, Lee."

She smiled up at me "Don't worry Bella, I'll make sure to save you a seat. I'm gonna need all the help I can get", she giggled.

Jacob followed me back to my room, and as I pulled out my study guide he flopped on to my bed and popped open my book. Jacob quizzed me relentlessly, and clarified the things I didn't understand. The way he explained it, made the concepts much less confusing and much more obvious.

He smacked the top of my head with the papers. "You've got this. You know this stuff inside and out."

I sighed. "Hmmm… we'll see."

"Listen I'm going to walk you to class, and quiz you on the way." I nodded, and locked the door behind us. I began to chew my lower lip, "Are you going to be mad if I flunk this test?"

"You won't flunk, Pidge. We will need to start earlier for the next one, though," he said, keeping in-time with me as we walked towards the science building.

"How on earth are you going to find time to tutor me, when you have your own assignments, have to study and train for your fights? You can't Jacob." I shook my head vehemently at him.

Jacob gave a loud rumbling chuckle, "I don't train for any of my fights Pidge. Garrett calls me like an hour or so before hand, tells me where, and I go."

I shook my head in utter disbelief as Jacob held my study notes in front of him and begin to quiz me again. We had nearly finished a second round of Jake's questioning when we finally reached my class.

"You are gonna kick some ass," he said as he gave me a wide dazzling white smile and, handed me my notes and leant against the wall besides the doorway.

"Hello Jacob."

I turned to see a tall, somewhat lanky man smile at Jacob on his way into the classroom.

"Edward," Jacob nodded.

Edward's big, green eyes brightened as his gaze fell over me, and smiled towards me, "Hi, Bella."

"Hi-iii," I stuttered, surprised that this guy, I didn't know, knew my name. I had seen him in class, but we'd never actually met.

Edward walked over to his seat, joking with the boy and girl sat next to him. "Who is that?" I asked. Jacob face gave a twitch momentarily as he shrugged, although now the skin around his eyes seemed tenser than they had before. "Edward Masen. He's one of my Sig Tau brothers."

"You're in a frat?" I asked with a doubtful expression.

"Yeah. Sigma Tau, same as Em. I thought you knew that," he said, looking over my shoulder at Edward.

"You don't really seem the… erm fraternity type," I answered, eyeing the tattoos which rippled under his shirt sleeves and which ran down his forearms.

At this Jacob turned his eyes and penetrating gaze back on to me and grinned. "My dad is an alumni, and my brothers are all Sig Tau's...it's a family thing." Shrugging nonchalantly again.

"And they expected you to pledge?" I asked, skeptical. He sniffed a laugh,"Not really. They're just good guys," he said, tapping my papers, on the top of my head, like you would a child. "You better get into class Pidge."

"Thanks for helping me," I said as I gave him a friendly nudge with my elbow, as Leah passed, and I followed her to our seats.

"So?" she asked.

I shrugged. "He is actually a really good tutor."

"Just a tutor?" I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head slightly.

"He seems like he could be a good friend, too."

She didn't even try to hide her disappointment, and I giggled at the forlorn expression on her face. Leah for some reason had always had this thing about us dating friends, and well roommates-slash-cousins, was hitting the jackpot as far as she was concerned. She wanted us to room together when she decided to come with me to Washington, but I went against the idea. I was hoping to spread my wings a bit. Once she finished sulking and finally accepted my reasons she quickly refocused on finding a friend of Embry's to introduce me to instead. It would seem that as opposed to the idea of Jake liking me as Embry was, Leah was just as for it, if not more. Jacob's interest in me had surpassed all her hopes. Since I had sailed through the test I left the classroom early and sat on the steps outside the building, waiting for Leah. When she finally slumped down next to me in defeat, I didn't have to wait long for her to speak.

"That was hell!" she cried.

"You should study with us. Jacob explains it really well."I told her as she groaned and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"You could have given me a courtesy nod or something you know? You weren't any help at all" She moaned dramatically as I hooked my arm around her shoulders as she slung hers around my neck as we walked back to our dorm.

Over the next week, Jacob helped me with my history paper and tutored me in Biology. We stood together scanning the grade board outside the Biology Professors' office. My student number was three spots from the top.

"Wow you were the third highest in the class Pidge! Nice work!" he said, squeezing me. His warm brown eyes glistening brightly with excitement and pride. As I saw the emotions flashing in his eyes, I felt an awkward feeling stir inside and it made me take a step back.

"Thanks, Jake. I couldn't have done it without you," I said, smiling up at him shyly. He gave a loud laugh before grabbing me and tossing me over his shoulder, and making his way through the crowd which had gathered behind us. "Make way! Move it, people! Make room for Bell's hideously disfigured, enormous brain because she is a fucking genius!"

As I clung to his t-shirt, I giggled as we passed my amused and curious classmates.

As days passed, and our friendship grew we had to field the persistent rumors about a relationship. However Jacob's reputation thankfully helped to dampen the gossip; he had never stayed with one girl longer than a night, so the more we were seen together, the more people understood it was purely a platonic relationship. Even with the constant rumors and questions of whether we were involved, didn't affect the constant attention Jacob received from the girls around the University.

Jake continued to sit next to me in History, and still ate lunch with me. It hadn't taken me long to realize just how wrong I had been about Jacob Black. I even found myself getting defensive about him to anyone who didn't know him the way I did.

Jacob set a can of orange juice in front of me, as I attempted to peel off my jacket, "You didn't have to do that. I was going to grab one," I said.

Flashing the dimple in his left cheek as he gave me a wide smile and replied,"But now you don't have to".

Emmett snorted. "Has she turned you into her cabana boy, Jacob? What's she gonna have you do next? Fan her with a palm tree leaf, wearing some Speedos?" He gave a loud robust laugh at his joke as Jacob shot him a murderous glare, seeing Jake's expression and his shoulders tense I jumped to his defense. "Ha like you could even fill a pair of Speedos, Emmett. So shut the hell up."

"Easy, Bella! Jeez I was just messing around!" Emmett said, holding up his hands.

"Just...don't talk about him like that," I said, frowning.

Jacob's murderous expression quickly changed to a mixture of surprise and gratitude.

"Now I have really seen it all. I was just defended by a girl," he muttered as he stood up. Shaking his head he left with his tray, but not before he had given Emmett one more warning glare. He stalked outside to stand with a small group of fellow smokers outside the building. I tried to not let my confusion show. I wasn't sure whether I should have not spoken up and left Jake to deal with it.

I did my utmost not to watch him while he stood outside smoking, laughing and talking, as every girl in the group subtly competed for the space next to him. Leah elbowed me in the ribs when she realized my attention wasn't on the conversation she, Embry, Emmett and a few others around the table were having.

"What ya looking at, Bella?" She whispered discreetly; for a change.

"Nothing. I'm not looking at anything." Swinging my face and my eyes away from Jake and his admirers to look at her.

Leah rested her chin on her hand and shook her head as she leaned in towards me more.

"They're so obvious. Look at that red head" She said in her normal voice, pointing. " She's ran her fingers through her hair more times then she has blinked. I wonder if Jacob gets bored of that."

Embry nodded, as he leaned in as well, so we were effectively huddled together like three little old ladies gossiping. "He does. He hates it. Everyone thinks he's a huge asshole, but they have no idea how patient he actually is" Embry shook his head. "He gets pissed off dealing with them. Imagine every single one of them thinks she can tame him… he can't go anywhere without them hounding him. Yet you won't ever catch him being rude to any of them. Trust me; he's much more polite than I would be."

"Oh, like you wouldn't love it," Leah laughed, kissing his cheek.

I made my way outside just as Jacob was finishing his cigarette outside the cafeteria. "Wait up, Pidge. I'll walk you."

"You don't have to walk me to every class, Jacob. I do know how to get there on my own you know." I retorted with more annoyance than I intended I wasn't even sure where it had come from.

Jake's attention was caught by a girl with long, black hair and a very short skirt who was walking past us, upon seeing Jacob looking at her, she gave him her best slutty smile. He followed her with his eyes and nodded at her before throwing his cigarette down on to the ground. "Erm okay. I'll catch up with you later, Pidge."

"Yeah right," I muttered tartly, rolling my eyes as he jogged over to the girl.

Jacob's seat remained empty during class, and as the lesson went on I found myself getting more annoyed with him for missing it over a girl he didn't even know. Professor Cullen dismissed us late, and I hurried across the lawn, aware that I was supposed to meet Seth at three o'clock to give him Maggie Milner's Music Appreciation notes. I looked at my watch and seeing I was going to be late I quickened my pace.

"Bella? Bella Swan?" Glancing over my shoulder to see who was calling me, I saw Edward jogging across the grass towards me before falling into step beside me. "I don't think we've officially met or been introduced," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Edward Masen."

I took his hand and smiled. "Bella Swan, although you know that already."

"I was behind you when you got your bio test grade. Congratulations," he smiled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Thanks. Jake helped me study or I would have been at the bottom of the list, trust me."

"Oh, are you guys..."

"Friends" I interrupted quickly.

Edward nodded and smiled. "Did he tell you there's a party at the Frat House this weekend?"

I shook my head, "No we mostly talk about Biology and food," I replied shrugging.

Edward laughed "That does sound like Jacob I must say."

As we reached the door of Regents Hall, Edward scrutinized my face with his large emerald eyes. "You should come. It'll be fun."

I was surprised, but managed to keep my poker face.

"I'll talk to Leah, but as far as I know we don't have any plans."

"Do you two come as a package then?"

"No we just made a pact this summer, we wouldn't do parties alone"

"Very smart," he nodded with approval.

"Since she met Em at orientation, I haven't had to tag along with her, but since this will be the first time I'm asking her, I'm sure she'll be happy to come." Inwardly I cringed, as I felt the all too familiar heat begin to climb up my neck. Not only was I rambling, but I had also just made it blatantly obvious that I didn't get asked to parties. Ever. Oh God please just let the ground open up or Seth to appear now…. Nope, nothing, typical.

"Great. So I'll see you there, then." he said. He flashed his perfect smile, which made him look like a Calvin Klein model with his square jaw and flawless skin, before he turned to walk back across campus, the way we had just came.

I watched him as he walked away; he was tall, and up close he was slightly more muscular than I had first given him credit for, but he still looked somewhat lanky compared to the other boys I had associated with lately. However he was clean shaven, with a pressed pin-striped dress shirt and jeans. His wavy, brown hair bounced when he walked, and when the sun caught it, it looked almost bronze in the light.

I bit my lip, extremely flattered by his invitation.

"Now he's more your type Swan," Seth whispered in a sultry tone into my ear, making me jump. I swatted him with my hand before I asked, "He is cute, right?", unable to stop myself from smiling, on a high from the interest of someone like Edward Masen.

"Hell yeah, he is cute...in a preppy, 'I'm only ever gonna make lurve to you in the missionary position kind of way'."

"Seth!" I cried, smacking him hard on the shoulder, with the palm of my hand. He gave a loud guttural laugh as I blushed scarlet.

"Anyway did you get Maggi's notes for me?"

"Of course, although I'm not sure you deserve them now" I teased, pulling them out of my bag. He lit a cigarette, and placed it between his lips, as he squinted at the notes.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," he said, scanning them. He slipped them into his pocket, before taking another long drag on his cigarette.

"Just as well Regent's boilers are out. You're gonna need a cold shower after getting ogled by that handsome bit of meat."

"What?! The dorm doesn't have hot water?" I wailed.

"Apparently," Seth shrugged, grabbing his backpack off the floor. "I'm off to Algebra. Tell Lee I said not to forget all about little old me this weekend. Again."

"I'll tell her," I grumbled, as I glared up at the antique brick walls of mine and Leah's dorm. I stomped all the way up the stairs up to my room, before I shoved my door open and let it slam shut behind me. My backpack fall to the floor, with an equally loud thump.

"No hot water," Angela mumbled from her side of the desk, not even looking up at me.

"I know I just heard." I fumed.

My cell phone buzzed and I flicked it open, to see it was a text message from Leah cursing the boilers. A few moments later there was a knock on the door, as it opened at the same time.

Leah walked in and flopped onto my bed, her arms crossed, and a pissed off expression similar to the one I imagined was on my own face, contorting her normally pretty features. "Can you believe this shit? How much are we paying to live in these… these… shoeboxes! And now we can't even have a hot shower?"

Angela sighed. "Oh god quit complaining! It's not like you even actually stay here! Go back to your boyfriend's. Haven't you moved in with him, anyway?"

Leah's eyes darted over to where Angela was sitting at her desk, and narrowed her eyes. "Hmmm, that's actually a good idea, Angela. I'm impressed you came up with it even if you are a total bitch."

Angela wasn't fazed by Leah's taunt in the slightest and kept her gaze on her laptop screen.

Leah pulled her cell out and beginning tapping away with amazing precision and speed. Her cell phone beeped almost simultaneously as she stopped typing, her face lit up as she smiled at me. "We're staying with Em and Jacob until the boilers are fixed" she shrilled excitedly.

"What? No way! Na ah no, you can, but I'm not!" I practically shouted at her.

"Oh, yes you are. Look there's absolutely nothing that you could say, that would make me leave you here. Think about it this way, its either being stuck here, freezing ya tits off in the shower or living in a pretty nice apartment which has two bathrooms."

The idea of no hot water and freezing cold showers for who knows how long wasn't appealing in the slightest, and the boys' apartment was definitely much more luxurious than the dorm rooms.

I was wondering how to surrender without actually admitting defeat so easily, especially with Angela listen to us, when I realized Jake would have no idea of this arrangement and Embry probably had no idea either. I would rather have a million cold showers then turn up uninvited and unwanted.

"But I wasn't invited."

"I'm inviting you, Em said to ask you". She looked to the left slightly which was her tell. I raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know I knew she was lying and Leah gave a dramatic sigh, "I asked and he said it was cool for both of us- so that is practically him asking you", she placed her hands on her hips obstinately.

"Where am I supposed to sleep Lee?"

"On the couch...if Jacob isn't using it."

"And if he's using it?"

Leah shrugged. "Then you can sleep in Jacob' bed."

"No way!"

She rolled her eyes, "For fuck's sake Bella, don't be such a baby. He won't be in it. He'll be on the couch. Besides your friends, if he hasn't tried anything by now, I really doubt he will now or ever." She added just to hammer the point home. Her words made my mouth drop in surprise before I quickly snapped it shut. She was right, Jacob had been a constant fixture around me in one way or another every night for weeks We were either studying or hanging out with Embry and Leah or by ourselves. I had been so preoccupied with making sure everyone knew we were just friends, it had never occurred to me that he had never tried anything until now. Jake had never been anything but a, well, a gentleman. It finally dawned on me he really was only interested in being friends with me and I suddenly felt extremely insulted, even though I had no idea way.

A shocked gasp, brought me back to the here and now as Angela looked at me and then at Leah and back to me with absolute shock and disbelief. "Jacob Black hasn't tried to sleep with you? Wow! I-"

"We're friends!" I snarled at her in a defensive tone.

"I know, but still! He hasn't even...tried? He's slept with everyone, literally everyone! You can't honestly tell me that Jacob 'I shag anything with breasts' Black hasn't even tried?"

"He hasn't slept with everyone. He hasn't slept with us," Leah said, before she gave Angela a disdainful look up and down, "Or you." she added.

Angela shrugged. "Well, bit hard when I've never met him. But I've heard what he's like."

"Exactly," I snapped. "You don't even know Jake."

Angela gave another shrug before she turned back to her monitor, and acted like she was oblivious to our presence.

I sighed defeatedly. "All right, Lee. I'll need to pack some… clothes and my night stuff I guess."

"Pack for a few days babe, we don't know how long it's gonna take to fix the boilers," she shrilled loudly and clapping her hands together. She was way too excited for my liking.

The dread which had began to creep over me as I agreed, had now settled over me like chainmail, and weighed me down. I had an awful feeling stirring in my gut as if I were about to be dropped by parachute into enemy territory- empty handed. "Ugh...fine."

Leah bounced enthusiastically, as she hugged me. "This is going to be so fun!"

Thirty minutes later we had loaded Leah's Honda with nearly everything Leah owned, and my own small case and headed to the boys' apartment.

Leah was so incredibly animated and barely took a breath the whole journey. She honked her horn with three short blasts as she pulled into her usual parking space. Embry was already jogging down the steps, and within seconds had pulled both of our suitcases from the trunk, and following us up the stairs.

"It's open," he panted.

Leah pushed the front door and held it open for me and Embry as he grunted before he dropped our luggage to the floor. "Jeez, Baby! Your case is like twenty pounds heavier than Bella's!" But his words fell on deaf ears as Leah and I both froze as a woman emerged from the bathroom, readjusting her skirt and shirt.

She stopped, surprised just as much as we were, before she decided it would be rude not to greet us, but as her mascara-smeared eyes examined us, they settled on our luggage, her features blanched. I recognized her as the leggy brunette Jacob had left me for, outside the cafeteria.

Leah swung around and glared furiously at Embry, who held up his hands exclaiming "Woah! Don't look at me Baby, she's with Jacob!" just as Jacob appeared in just a pair of boxer shorts and gave a large yawn. He looked at the girl, before patting her backside, and declaring "My company's here." She gave him a wide toothy grin, and wrapped her arms around him, in what could have only been as a clear territory mark, hell she may as well have pissed on him like a cat would. "You better be leaving now" he added, patting her ass again.

She smiled up at him, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed his neck loudly. "Sure baby, I'll leave my number on the counter for you," she cooed.

"Eh...don't worry about it," Jacob replied in a casual tone.

"What?" she asked in a stunned voice, as she leaned her chest away from him, so she could look at his face and into his eyes.

"Every time!" Leah said as she flung her arms in the air with exasperation. "How are you surprised? Like seriously? What the fuck did you expect? He is Jacob fucking Black! He is famous for fucking and dumping, he only does one night stands everyone knows it! Yet every time they're surprised!" She declared loudly as she turned to look at Embry, as if he was about to agree with her. Embry however put his arm around her, and wrapped her into an embrace in an attempt to calm her down.

The girl had stood still during Leah's outburst, narrowed her eyes at Leah before glaring at Jacob, shegrabbed her purse, gave one last dirty look at Jacob and stormed out, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Jacob who hadn't said a word since telling her to leave, walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge as if nothing had happened.

Leah watched him, she shook her head and walked down the hall towards Embry's room as Em quietly followed her, half carrying, half dragging her suitcase behind him.

I looked around me bewildered before falling into the recliner and sighing, suddenly I felt crazy for agreeing to come. I hadn't realized Embry's apartment was a revolving door for clueless bimbos.

Jacob stood behind the breakfast bar, crossed his arms across his chest and smiled. "Ah what's wrong, Pidge? Hard day?"

"No, I'm absolutely and utterly disgusted."

"With me?" He said with a massive grin. I should have known that not only would Jacob expect this conversation but he was actually looking forward to it. Which only made me less inclined to hold back.

"Yes, you. How on earth can you just use someone for sex and then discard them so callously? How can you treat someone like that?"

"What? Hang on now! I wasn't callous or cruel she offered her number and I declined."

My mouth fell open at his lack of remorse. "Exactly! You will have sex with her, but you don't want her number?"

Jacob leaned on the counter. "Look at it like this Bella, I'm not going to call her, so why would I want her number? Surely that is just misleading her?"

"How- no why would you sleep with someone if you're not going to call her?" I said confounded.

"Pidge I don't promise anyone anything. Look, she didn't stipulate a relationship before she spread her legs for me on the couch."

I stared at the couch with absolute revulsion.

"Jacob she is someone's daughter, someone's DAUGHTER! What if someone treated your daughter like that?" Jacob stood up ramrod straight, his eyes darkened slightly.

"My daughter won't drop her panties for some asshole she just met."

I glared at him as I crossed my arms, furious that he actually made sense.

"So, besides the fact you agree that you're an asshole, you actually believe that because she slept with you, she deserved to be tossed out like a stray dog?"

"No, what I'm saying is, I was honest with her, they all know the score beforehand. She's an adult and it was consensual... If you really want to know the truth she was way too eager. You are acting like I've committed a serious crime Bella."

"Because she didn't seem like she was all that clear about your intentions, Jacob."

"Ha! Look if there's one thing I have learned about women it's that they usually justify their own actions with whatever excuse they make up in their heads. She didn't tell me she wanted a relationship with me before she let me fuck her anymore than I told her I wanted sex without strings attached. How is that any different?"

"You're a pig."

"I've been called a hell'a lot worse." He shrugged.

I felt my anger towards him growing again, so I turned my attention to the couch, and convulsed with disgust. The cushions were still askew and bunched up from its recent use. I was repulsed at the thought of just how many women the sofa had seen, how many women had willingly given themselves on it's itchy fabric.

"Well I guess that means I'm gonna be sleeping on the recliner then," I grumbled.

Jacob actually had the audacity to ask why.

I glowered up at him, furious that he actually looked confused. "I'm not sleeping on that! God knows what I'd be laying in! Or what I'd catch!"

He arched an eyebrow as he rounded the breakfast bar and lifted my luggage off the floor. "You're not going to be sleeping on the couch or even the recliner. You're sleeping in my bed."

"No way! That will be even more unsanitary than the couch."

"Well that is where you're wrong because there's never been anyone in my bed but me."

"I call bullshit!" I said rolling my eyes irritatedly.

"I'm absolutely serious. I only ever bag 'em on the couch. I never let them in my room."

"Why am I allowed then?"

His mouth pulled up into a cheeky grin. "Are you planning on trying to seduce me tonight?" "No!" I exclaimed louder than perhaps was necessary.

"That's why. Get that cranky ass of yours into that hot shower you wanted, and then we can study before bed."

I continued to glare at him for a moment longer before grudgingly doing as he had ordered. I stood under the hot water for longer than normal, allowing the water to wash away my irritation. I sighed happily at how wonderful it was to shower in a non-communal bathroom again. I had always loved showers but having to share with umpteen other people wasn't something I enjoyed and neither were the necessary flip flops, and toiletry bag. Instead I enjoyed the sensation knowing I was alone and let the water and stream relax me completely, when the door opened unexpectedly, and I jumped. "Lee?"

"No, it's just me," Jacob said completely unfazed and relaxed as I squealed and covered the parts I didn't want him to see. "What the hell are you doing in here? Get out! Now!"

"Chill Bells I can't see anything" he said before chuckling and making goosebumps rise on my skin already sensitive from the water running over my body.

"You forgot a towel, plus I thought you would like your clothes so I brought them, your toothbrush, and a weird cream for ya face I found in your bag." He said calmly.

"You went through my stuff?" I shrieked. He didn't answer. Instead it went quiet and then I heard the tap turn on and the sound of him brushing his teeth.

I peeked around the plastic curtain that was the only thing separating us, making sure I held it tightly against my chest. "Get out, Jacob." I hissed.

He looked up at me innocently, his lips covered in foam from his toothpaste. "I need to brush my teeth before I go to bed Pidge." He mumbled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, his mouth full of toothpaste still.

"If you even attempt to come within two feet of this curtain, I swear to god I will poke out your eyes while you're asleep."

"I promise I won't peek, Pidge," he chuckled.

Jacob spit, gurgled, and spit again, all the while I waited under the water with my arms wrapped tightly around my body, when the door finally opened and closed, I let out the breathe I hadn't realized I was holding. Rinsing the soap from my skin I checked it was indeed safe before climbing out of the shower and dried myself as fast as possible in case Jacob suddenly decided he had forgot something else. I pulled my t-shirt and shorts on, and pulled the brush through my long hair, braiding it so I wouldn't wake up with a mane of wild hair in the morning. The moisturizer Jacob had found caught my eye, and I couldn't help but smile. He really was thoughtful and dare I say it nice when he wanted to be.

I was deep in thought when Jacob opened the door again. "Pidge c'mon! I'm gettin' old, out here!"

I threw the brush at him and he ducked, shutting the door as he laughed to himself outside the door, and all the way to his room. I brushed my teeth and then quietly opened the bathroom door and shuffled passed Embry's bedroom on the way.

"Night, Bella," Leah called out from behind Em's door. "Night, Lee." I called back quietly in case Embry was already asleep.

I reached Jacob's door and hesitated uncertainly before softly knocking twice.

"Come in, Pidge! You don't have to knock." He said as he yanked the door open and stepped aside so I could walk in. I walked in timidly and chewed on my bottom lip as I looked around his bedroom. He had a black iron-rod bed which was easily the biggest bed I had ever seen, and ran parallel to the line of windows on the far side of his room. The walls were all barren except for a sombrero which hung above his headboard. I had half-expected his room to be smothered in posters of nearly naked women, but I didn't even see a picture of any cars or motorcycles. His bedding was also black, his carpet was plush and gray, while everything else in the room was simply white. It looked almost unlived in or as if he'd just moved in.

He strolled past me raising an eyebrow at me as I took in his bedroom for the first time. "Nice PJ's by the way Pidge," Jacob said, as I looked down at my navy and maroon plaid shorts, and gray UDub t-shirt. He flopped onto his bed and patted the pillow beside him for me to sit next to him. "Come on. I'm not going to bite."

"I'm not afraid of you," I retorted as I walked over to the bed and dropped my biology textbook beside him. "I don't have a pen do you?"

He nodded to his night table, on my side. "Yeah top drawer."

I reached over and pulled open the drawer, to find two pens, a blunt pencil, a half used tube of KY jelly, and much to my disgust a bowl which was overflowing with a whole range of different colored and brands of condoms. Appalled and revolted, I grabbed a pen and slammed the drawer shut, as if a venomous snake may jump out and bite me.

"What?" he asked innocently, as he studied a page in my book, before turning it over casually.

"Did you rob a health clinic?"

"No. Why?

I pulled the lid off the pen as my lips turned upwards into a grimace, and despite my best efforts I was unable to keep the appalled expression from my face as I replied, "Your lifetime supply of condoms."

"Well I was taught to be careful! It is better to be safe than sorry son," He mimicked in a much deeper baritone voice, "It is right?" He added in his own dulcet tone.

I rolled my eyes at him, as he returned to the pages he had been pretending to read, a wry smile spreading across his full pink lips. Jacob read out notes to me, highlighting the main points he wanted me to remember, all the while asking me questions and patiently explaining the parts I didn't understand.

After an hour, I rolled my back muscles and rubbed my eyes. "I'm shattered Jake. I really can't remember or attempt to memorize one more thing."

Jacob smiled at me easily and closed my book. "That's okay Pidge we covered a lot, you did really well."

I was suddenly uncertain, we were both on his bed looking at each other and I was still unsure of where I was supposed to sleep and where Jacob would be sleeping if he still insisted I took his bed. I gave a fake yawn making Jacob chuckle as he hopped off the bed and left the room. I watched as he walked down the hall, and opened Embry's door a crack and mumbled something to Embry and Leah before he walked into the bathroom and I heard him turn on the shower. I shook myself out of my daze and stood stretching my muscles out before I turned back the bedcovers and then pulled them right up to my neck and then wriggled down further, listening for any signs Jacob had finished and whether he was coming back. I relaxed a little as I could still hear the rush of the water.

Ten minutes later I heard the water shut off, and a few more before the floors creaked under Jacob's weight. He strolled back into the bedroom and across the room with only a white towel wrapped around his hips, accentuating the bronze of his skin. _He had tattoos on opposite sides of his chest, and black tribal art covering each of his bulging shoulders. On his right arm, the black lines and symbols spanned from his shoulder to his wrist, on the left, the tattoos stopped at his elbow, with one single line of script on the underside of his forearm_.* I kept my back intentionally towards him, my face blushing as he stood in front of the dresser and dropped his towel to slip on a pair of boxers**. **

After flicking the light off, he crawled into bed beside me.

"What the hell are you doing Jake?" I asked turning to look at him surprised.

"You can't honestly think you are sleeping in here, too?" I added. The full moon shone through the window, casting a shadow across his face. "Eh I don't think I am, I know I am. This is _my _bed."

"I know that, but ..." I halted unsure what to say or do. If I didn't want to share with Jake I only had two other options; a disgusting STD covered couch or an uncomfortable recliner.

Jacob chuckled, a wide grin spread across his face making the dimple on his left cheek appear, as he shook his head.

"How can you still not trust me Bella?" He asked still smiling but the light in his eyes had gone and so had the creases around them, which were ever present whenever he genuinely smiled.

_"Don't you trust me by now? I'll be on my best behavior, I swear," he said, holding up fingers that I was sure the Boy Scouts of America had never considered using_.**

I didn't comment instead I turned away from him, rolling onto my side and laid my head back down on the pillow, patting down and tucking the covers behind me, clearly marking a barrier between his body and mine.

I felt the bed shift slightly with his weight and dip behind me, but I didn't dare move.

"Goodnight Pigeon, sweetdreams" he whispered so softly into my ear, if I hadn't felt his minty breath on my cheek I would have thought I had imagined it. But his breath had also made goose bumps rise on every inch of my skin making me silently thank God it was far too dark for him to see the embarrassing reaction my traitorous body had to his whisper, or the deep flush of color that now tainted my cheeks.

It seemed like only minutes ago since I had closed my eyes when the alarm rang loudly in my ears. I reached over to switch it off, but when my fingers grazed hot skin I jerked my hand back in horror. My eyes snapped open as I tried to desperately remember where I was. When the answer finally came to me, I was thoroughly mortified that Jacob might believe I'd tried to touch him on purpose.

"Jacob? Jacob wake up," I whispered. Still he didn't move. "Jacob!" I said a little louder this time, and gave him a slight nudging. "Jacob! The alarm!" But he still didn't stir, tutting I reached across him, and fumbled around until I felt the top of the clock. Not knowing how to turn it off and unable to see in the dim light I hit the top of it with the palm of my hand until I eventually managed to hit the snooze button. I flopped back onto my side of the bed with a loud huff of annoyance.

Jacob gave a deep chuckle, peeking one eye open to look at me, as I turned my head towards the noise.

"You were awake?" I accused him.

"Hey, I promised I'd be on my best behavior, I didn't however say anything about not stopping you from laying on me if you wanted."

"I did NOT lay on you," I exclaimed fiercely. "I couldn't reach the damn clock and you wouldn't wake up! Or so I thought. Plus that is to be the most annoying alarm I have ever heard in my life. It sounds like a cat screaming as it dies a painful death."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "and you saw a cat die a horrible and painful death and did nothing?" the corners of his mouth twitching. I gave a growl, "don't be an ass it's too early".

He propped himself up on his elbows and reached over to press one of the buttons on his alarm, before looking over at me. "You want breakfast?"

I was still glaring at him, and shook my head. "No."

"No?"

"No. I'm not hungry."

"Well, I am. So why don't you come for a ride with me to the cafe down the street?"

"No thanks, I really can't handle your awful driving skills this early," I said as I swung my feet over the side of the bed and pushed myself off before I looked around for my slippers before I shuffled to the door.

"Erm… where do you think you are going?" he asked. I turned to look at him, my eyebrows furrowing together in annoyance.

"Erm…" I started mimicking his voice, " I am going to get dressed and go to class. Is that okay with you? Do you require an itinerary while I'm here?" I replied snidely.

Jacob stood and stretched, the muscles in his back and arms rippling under his tanned skin. He walked over to me, still only in his boxers. "Are you always so irritable, or is that going to wear off once you actually believe that I'm not trying to create some intricate plan to get inside your panties?" He looked directly down into my eyes as he spoke, his hands resting on my shoulders and his thumbs massaged circles into my skin in unison.

"I am not irritable." I protested in what could only be described as an irritated tone, making my skin warm as I blushed at the irony.

He leaned in close and whispered into my ear. "Relax, I don't want to sleep with you, Pidge. I like you far too much."

With that he walked past me to go to the bathroom, while I stood still, where he had stopped me, too stunned to move. Angela's words replaying in my mind as if on loop, Jacob Black had slept with everyone, literally everyone and knowing that left me feeling extremely deficient now I knew without a shadow of a doubt he had no desire whatsoever to sleep with me.

The door opened again, as Leah strolled in. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" she smiled brightly before giving a large, and very unladylike yawn. "You realise you sound just like ya mother don't you Lee?" I grumbled, as I began rifling through my case for something to wear.

"Oooh… someone is cranky this morning! Did someone not get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah right. He didn't even glance in my direction," I replied bitterly.

A smile lit up Leah's face. "Oh."

"Oh, what?"

"Nothing," she said with a knowing wink and giggle as she walked out of Jake's room, to go back to Embry's room.

I marched out of the room, still pissed off but not sure why or with who. Jacob was in the kitchen, singing a song I didn't know while he made scrambled eggs. "You sure you don't want some Pidge?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm sure. Thank you." I replied as Embry and Leah walked in. Embry pulled out two plates and held them out to Jacob who shoveled a pile of steaming scrambled eggs onto each of the plates. Embry placed the plates on the bar, one in front of Leah and one in the spot beside her. He sat next to her as they both began eating away heartedly, obviously they were making up for the energy they must have burned off the night before.

"Em, quit looking at me like that. Look I'm sorry, but I don't want to go," Leah said.

"But baby, it's a month away. You have loads of time to find a dress and do all the normal girly stuff. They only have two date parties a year," Embry spoke as he chewed.

"Em… It is really sweet you want me to go with you...but I won't know anyone there, and I will be all alone while you are doing whatever stuff you have to do."

"Baby, lots of the girls that go don't know that many people there, you can meet new people" he said, still surprised she had turned him down.

"Ha" Leah replied as she slumped down in her chair. "Only sorority type bitches get invited to those things. First of all, they will all know each other and two, they are all sorority bitches, I don't want to know any of them. So yeah I will be all alone, and they will all be making bitchy comments...it'll be weird and horrible." She added.

"Oh c'mon, Lee, please don't make me go alone."

"Well...I guess it wouldn't be too awful if you could find someone to take Bella?" she said, looking over at me, before her eyes quickly flashed to Jacob, before she looked at Embry earnestly.

Jacob arched an eyebrow, as Embry shook his head quickly. "Jake doesn't do date parties baby. It's something you take a girlfriend to...and well Jacob doesn't… er you know."

Leah shrugged casually, "Well we could try and set her up with someone."

I narrowed my eyes at them both. "I am here ya'know I can hear you" I waved at them just to prove my point.

Leah turned to look at me, she turned on her puppy dog eyes, the one face she knew I could never say no to.

"Please, Bella?" She pleaded. "We will find you a really nice guy! One that is funny and witty, and you know damn sure I'll make sure he's super hot… I promise you will have a really good time, it will be so much more fun! And who knows? Maybe you'll even hit it off with your date."

There was a loud bang as Jacob threw the pan he had been holding into the sink. "I never said I wouldn't take her," as all our eyes flashed to him, Leah and I were surprised at the noise, Embry looked more surprised at Jacob's statement.

I rolled my eyes, at Jacob. "Don't bother doing me any favors, Jacob." Still feeling pissed off and self-conscience that I clearly wasn't pretty enough, or slim enough, or busty enough… the only thing I was sure of was it had nothing to do with not being smart enough having seen some of the dimwits and bimbos he had been with.

"That isn't what I meant, Pidge. Look Date parties are well known to be for the guys who have girlfriends, and we all know, in fact it is common knowledge that I don't do the girlfriend-thing. However it will be cool with you, 'cause we're friends, I won't be shitting my pants that you will be expecting an engagement ring the next day."

Leah stuck her lip out. "Pretty please, Bella?" she pouted, with her big brown eyes, staring intently at me.

"Quit looking at me like that!" I whined. "Look Lee, Jake doesn't want to go and neither do I. We will be awful company and we won't be any fun. We'll just ruin ya night."

Jacob crossed his arms over his naked chest, flexing his muscles taut and leaned against the side. "I never said I didn't want to go. I think if the four of us went it'd be fun," he shrugged.

Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on me, and I recoiled in shock. "Why can't we hang out here instead?"

Leah pouted again and Embry leaned forward over the counter. "I have to go, Bella. I have no choice, I'm a freshman; I have to make sure everything runs smoothly, that everyone has a drink in their hand, that everyone is having fun, stuff like that. That's why Lee wants someone to hang with while I'm busy." As he spoke Jacob had walked across the kitchen and slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. "C'mon Pidge, will you go with me?"

I looked at Leah, then at Embry, both of whom were still looking at me hopefully. Finally I looked to Jacob. "Yes," I sighed defeatedly.

Leah jumped up, and ran around the counter squealing, she attempted to hug me, but it proved difficult since Jacob was still holding onto me and Leah was jumping up and down. I felt Embry's hand rest on my back. "Thank you Bella," he spoke with such sincerity, it made me feel a tiny bit better until I realized what I had agreed to again.

*direct quote from beautiful disaster by Jamie McGuire. Chapter two: page 69.

**direct quote from beautiful disaster by Jamie McGuire. Chapter two: page 70.


End file.
